The Breach
by Nocturne1501
Summary: Chell finally leaves Aperture... just to come back down. The Combine suddenly launch a full-scale assault on Aperture Science's Enrichment Center, and it just happens to be just when Chell escaped. Rated M for later chapters. ChellDOS.
1. Chapter 1 - The Introduction

Chell was finally free.

She stepped outside into the wheat field, and was already taking small steps forward when she heard loud metal banging behind her. The steel door sprung open, and a charred cube-shaped object flew out and landed in front of her. The door promptly shut itself.

Chell walked up to the object, confused, only to realize it was her Companion Cube, the one she threw down the incinerator what seemed like an eternity ago. She sat down next to it and hugged it.

She sat like that for a while, just cherishing the thought that she never has to go back down there. The former test subject got up and looked out to the field. There was what seemed like a thick gray line on the horizon. Chell paused and looked at the blurry line, which seemed to slowly grow as if it were advancing towards her. Soon she managed to make out that the gray line was actually a battalion of strange-looking people, dressed in thick, gray suits, each holding black assault rifles in their hands.

Whatever it was, it meant trouble.

Chell quickly walked back to the thick steel door leading back to Aperture, and banged on the door with her clenched fist. The sound echoed throughout the elevator shaft. A couple seconds later, the white monitor that was installed in the wall of the shack that Chell paid no attention to up until now lit up with the Aperture Science logo in the middle. The screen flashed once more, this time showing GLaDOS' white face plate on the screen.

"What do you want now?" the AI asked, annoyance clear in her voice, "I gave you the freedom you desired."

Chell simply moved out of the way and pointed at the horizon.

"It's people. I understand that you've never seen anyone _ever_ in your life," the robot said sarcastically, "but those are humans, just like you. Well, aside from the fact that they are not pathetic, worthless lunatics like you." Hate was evident in that voice.

Chell sighed, shook her head, and pointed again, this time with a frown on her face. There was a pause.

"Look, it's not my problem you're mute and can't socialize with people properly. Don't expect me to solve all your problems for you."

The girl decided that if before wasn't the time, it certainly is now.

"GLaDOS, I don't have any vision-enhancing equipment and even _I_ can see that there's _something _dangerous-looking heading towards _your facility_."

The AI seemed surprised.

"So, almost certain death in my facility wasn't enough to make you talk, but a blurry line on the horizon is a big enough deal?" The robot sighed. "You know what, fine, I'll do a quick scan just to appease you."

A couple seconds later, the AI froze, then slowly and menacingly said, "_The Combine._"

The door flung open, with the elevator already waiting for Chell on the other side. "Unless you want to have your body riddled with many extraneous orifices, you should consider getting inside."

Chell hesitated. What the hell was going on? All she ever wanted is to get out, and now she's being forced back? "Is this just one of your tricks, a hologram or something? Are we still inside the complex?" Chell asked.

"You have 5 seconds to comply, and if you don't, _they_ will kill you. Painfully. Trust me, if I wanted you dead, I would have done it when you were completely defenseless and unarmed in the elevator."

Chell glanced back at the soldiers, who now seemed much closer than before, and stepped inside the elevator. The steel door shut itself with a clang.


	2. Chapter 2 - Back To Testing

Chell still couldn't believe she was going back. After all, she's done everything humanly possible to get out. But... now that she was thinking about it, Aperture was like a home to her. She was thinking about what GLaDOS'll force her to do when she heard the Announcer's voice say, loud and clear as ever, "Initiating transfer. Main core, are you ready to start the procedure?"

Chell waited. In about five seconds, the Announcer continued, "Interpreting extremely profane answer as 'yes'. Initializing transfer." Chell only had seconds to wonder what that meant before the elevator came to a sudden halt. The girl almost fell, grabbing onto the side of the elevator cabin at the last moment. All of the lights went out, leaving Chell in complete darkness. What was GLaDOS up to? Whatever her little robot "friend" was doing, it had to be something new and unusual, considering the power cut like that.

In a couple of seconds, the lights flickered, turned back on, and the elevator came back into motion. After about a minute of slow, soft descend, the elevator stopped in _her_ chamber. Chell stepped out of the elevator onto the clean white floor and realized that the giant chassis that normally housed her archnemesis' consciousness was hanging lifelessly from the ceiling. Chell carefully walked up to it.

"_GLaDOS?_"

* * *

GLaDOS found Chell asleep leaning on her chassis in the main chamber in about an hour. The android stood there for a couple seconds, then sat down next to her test subject. And waited. Poor hunk of flesh... She went through hell trying to get out, and now she's back down the rabbit hole. "She looks... beautiful," GLaDOS thought to herself, before shuddering slightly. "Ugh, snap out of it! She's just a worthless human. I'll try and get rid of her as soon as possible after I get rid of _them_."

When Chell woke up, the first thing she saw was a pretty woman who looked like she was in her thirties with beautiful white-grayish skin, short snow-white hair, and bright yellow eyes looking at her. She was wearing a pair of jeans bearing the Aperture brand and a black hoodie with the Aperture symbol on her chest. When she realized where she was, she jumped up, startled. "Who are you?" Chell asked, slowly backing away from the AI.

"I'm honestly surprised you haven't realized yet. It's a miracle how much time you humans need to start functioning properly after a prolonged period of neural inactivity."

"GLaDOS..." Chell sighed, slowly approaching the android, "Sweetie, you have no idea..."

"Please don't call me that, and yes I do. That's the Combine. They took over Earth a couple years ago, and now they're after me and my facility."

"Wait, _what_?! _Took over Earth?!_ Why didn't you tell me?!"

"It didn't matter at the time being. You know, with you being_ too busy murdering me and all_," the AI answered, with a hint of anger in her voice. Some scars were just too deep.

"I thought we were past all that!"

The AI sighed. "Listen, just... we have more important things to discuss right now. You do realize that they're trying t-"

GLaDOS was cut off by the Announcer.

_"Warning: outer hull breach detected. All security safeguards have been activated. Please prepare for emergency evacuation."_

GLaDOS looked at Chell. "C'mon, let's go. We need to go find the control panel so we can see what's happening."

Chell looked at her, blushing slightly, and smiled. The android looked away.

They silently walked to the elevator. Once inside, GLaDOS pressed the button, the doors closed, and the elevator started descending. After admiring the beauty of GLaDOS' new body for a while, Chell asked, "Why did you make this new body? I mean, don't get me wrong, it looks beautiful, but what is its purpose?"

"I made it not for beauty, but for functionality. With this body, I can move around freely and do things normally inaccessible to me, such as manually repairing things instead of sending in someone else to do it," the robot replied.

"Alright, so what are we doing today?"

"Defending against an invading army. First things first. We need to make sure _they_ don't deactivate the security safeguards. All of them are powered by a reactor located in Sector N of this facility. We need to get to it, set up some defenses, and make sure they can't get to it. That'll slow them down for a while."

"Wait, _we_?" Chell asked, secretly hoping for the android to take her along.

The android looked at her. "Yes, _we_, as in, you're coming with me. As much as I hate to bring such a useless creature along, there is one thing I cannot do without the help of a human."

"And what is that?" Chell asked.

"I need human DNA verification to change some security settings in the reactor. The scientists who made this place made it so _I_ only control parts of the facility _I _normally use. The technical things, like power, are out of my reach."

"Oh, so you _need_ me," Chell said jokingly.

"_I don't need you,_" the android replied coldly, "I can easily hack through the system and fake a DNA scan," she concluded and paused.

"I feel like there's a 'but' coming," Chell said, smiling.

"The console will be protected by a secure Aperture-brand system, so it'd take a while, even for me."

"Okay, but why me? I mean, why will my DNA give access to such a high-level security system override?" Chell asked, confused.

"Part of an emergency protocol I can't cancel nor override," the AI replied, "It was activated when I initially flooded the facility with neurotoxin," she added quietly.

"So... what do I get for helping you?"

"You might live a little longer," the android grimly replied.

"Woah there, Captain Trigger Finger, I thought we became friends after the whole _'I saved you from a bird and got you your facility back'_ thing," Chell said, softly elbowing the robot.

"Don't touch me." The rest of the elevator ride was spent in complete silence.

After a bit of time passed, the elevator stopped. "We've arrived," GLaDOS said.

They stepped out of the elevator. "Welcome to Sector S. This is where we will be 'living' and spending most of our time," GLaDOS explained. Chell's never been in this part of the facility. Well, to be fair, she's barely been anywhere except the test chambers. GLaDOS pointed. "See those white doors at the end of the hallway there? That's where the control panel is. I'm able to monitor the whole facility from there. The first door to your left is where you will sleep and the second door to your right is the kitchen. Right now, we need to visit the control room." GLaDOS walked up to the white double doors. She entered a code into a keypad mounted on the wall, and the doors, which looked a lot more simplistic than the ones Chell saw in the test chambers, slid open. The android walked in, and Chell followed.

The control room looked like somewhere a security guard would be sitting. There were lots of monitors, big and small, placed on the wall, four keyboards on the table in front of them, lots of wiring, a black chair in front of the table, and, unlike the rest of Aperture, less whiteness. In fact, the whole room was grim and dark. There would be cobwebs if any spider had ever made it inside Aperture before dying from all the anti-insect poison. GLaDOS sat in the chair, and pulled herself closer to the table. She pressed a couple buttons, and a command prompt appeared on the screen in front of her. She typed in a command, and all the other monitors lit up, showing images of different parts of the facility, as seen by cameras.

GLaDOS spun around in her chair, and faced Chell with a smug look on her face.

"Um, am I supposed to be impressed?" Chell asked cautiously.

"Yes, yes you are. From here, I can request the image of any part of the facility from any camera in the facility. For example, here's the reactor that we need to get to." GLaDOS pointed at the screen in front of her. On it was a big dark room, with a couple Aperture turrets in the corners, and a big green reactor in the middle that looked like a doughnut on its side, only the hole was filled with a turbine.

"Hey, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but the last time I ate was... I don't remember when. Can I get something to eat?" Chell asked. GLaDOS rolled her eyes. "God, you humans just like waste as much time as possible, don't you." She sighed. "Oh well, I might as well show you around while we're at it." She stood up. "C'mon, let's go, the kitchen's this way."

* * *

GLaDOS stopped in front of the strangely normal white door, equipped with a regular door handle rather than a keypad, and after glancing back at Chell, opened it. As soon as Chell entered, she was hit with a strong current of smells. The kitchen itself looked even more white and clean than the rest of Aperture. It was cleaner than ever, the cooker looked like it has never been used, and there was a white glass table with two chairs in the corner. Chell paused for a second, dazed by the Aperture-ness of it all.

"Alright, just take a look around, look in the fridge, grab something and sit down," GLaDOS said as she sat down at the table, "And before you ask where I got the food, there's a huge supply warehouse that automatically supplies every single fridge in the facility." Chell opened the fridge, and found that all products were made by Aperture. After thinking for a bit, she grabbed a slice of bread, some orange juice, and two slices of cheese. She poured the juice into a cup bearing the Aperture Laboratories logo that was conveniently placed on the counter next to the fridge, put the cheese on the bread, and sat down at the table opposite of GLaDOS, who watched her the entire time. As Chell began eating her 'breakfast', since it was the first thing she ate since she woke up, GLaDOS started debriefing her on what they were going to do.

"This first task is very simple. We carefully walk into the reactor room, get to the control panel for the reactor, set the security level to _Very High_, and leave. However there is a problem. Changing the security level will give us about _ten seconds_ to get out of the room before about eighteen ceiling turrets activate, ready to shoot anything in sight. Also, if we don't get out in time, the blast doors with shut themselves and lock us in, with the only way getting out is by breaking them down, which is not happening because firstly, I'm not breaking my own stuff, and secondly, they're made of titanium, and I don't have anything hand-held that can break that stuff down. Oh yeah, and anything organic in the room will be evaporated by a laser turret that only activates when the security level is at _Very High_."

Chell barely held herself from spitting the mouthful of sandwich all over the android. "W-What? So, I'm going to get shot on my way in, and then shot some more and evaporated on the way out?"

"Pretty much," the android replied.

"You're kidding, right?"

The android giggled. "Don't worry. You really think I'd let you die?"

Chell looked at GLaDOS.

"...Yeah, don't answer that. Now finish up and get some rest. Your room is the very left one from the elevator."

* * *

Chell walked into what the robot said was her room. She saw a comfortable bed, next to which was a small drawer for personal belongings, not that she had any, another door leading to a bathroom, and a simple wooden table with a chair. "Huh, this looks _way _better than I expected," Chell said without a hint of sarcasm. The android frowned at the 'compliment'. "Well, what can I say, thanks, sweetie! Never thought you could be so soft and nice." Chell turned to the robot.

"I thought I was clear about nicknames, and also, I'm not trying to be nice. I just need you to not rebel until I get _them_ out of my facility. However, don't expect this in the future, as I- _don't touch me!_" She shoved Chell away, who, while the android was talking, walked up to her and tried to hug her.

"Ugh, thanks for smearing your grease all over my new body, _you __worthless pile of meat!_" the android said angrily, her voice's volume noticeably raised. She took a step back, and before Chell could say anything, pressed a button on the wall, closing the door.

Chell could barely hold back the tears as turned around, and after undressing, lay down on her bed. She never thought the AI hated her _that_ much. She decided that she should be more careful with her.

* * *

The android went back to the control room. Her conscience was screaming at her.

_She just wanted to be nice to you, and this is what you do?_

"She's just a human, and I'm an AI with an infinite capacity for knowledge. I don't need her 'friendship'."

_She wants to be your friend. She wants to be nice to you, so be nice back!_

"Why? It's not like I'm getting anything out of it."

_You should know. You just said you're an AI with an infinite capacity for knowledge. She _needs _you. And you need her._

"Bullshit!"

_You know I'm right. Think about it._

"Fine, what I did wasn't exactly 'nice', but I just need her to get _them_ out of my facility!"

_It'll be much easier if you become friends with her. You should apologize._

"What?! Me, apologizing in front of a human?"

_Yes. What you did is wrong, and she's done nothing bad to you._

"_She killed me twice!_"

_She saved you when you were a potato and placed you back in control of your facility._

GLaDOS considered. After all, her conscience was right. It was made to be right. It'll be much easier for them to cooperate if they became friends.

"Fine, but just watch how that's going to turn out."


	3. Chapter 3 - The Reactor

Chell woke up in a comfortable, soft bed. This confused her for a second, but then she remembered what happened last night. She sat up, trying to put together what happened yesterday. After a bit of thinking, she remember her incident with GLaDOS and decided to apologize.

She got out of bed, opened the bathroom door, stripped nude, and stepped into the shower. Warm water hit her body, and she savored the sensation. After a time, she turned off the water and stepped out, only to find that her clothes were gone, and a new, clean pair of panties and a bra was waiting for her. This freaked her out a bit. Was GLaDOS watching her? Either way, she had more important things to worry about at this moment, such as the fact that the rest of her clothes were missing.

There was a knock on the door.

Before Chell could answer, the door opened, and GLaDOS walked in, holding a tray. In it there was a plate with a couple sandwiches on it, and a cup of juice. She basically made a set of food based on what Chell ate yesterday. The robot placed the tray on the table and knocked on the bathroom door.

"GLaDOS, I'm not decent!" Chell said as she hastily put on her underwear.

"And I'm not a human, neither do I care," the AI replied and opened the door.

Chell covered herself with her hands, trying to preserve what little dignity she had left. The android rolled her eyes.

"I took your clothes on purpose," she informed Chell.

"What? Why?"

"Because you'll need to wear something else for the task we have at hand," GLaDOS explained calmly. "I brought you some food. Take your time, and when you're ready, meet me in the control room." With that, the android turned around and left the room, closing the door behind her.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Chell walked out of her room, leaving the empty tray on her table. She was a little cold, wearing nothing but underwear as she walked down the steel-coated floor of the hallway. She approached the control room and pressed the button on the wall. GLaDOS was inside, sitting in her chair.

"It's a little cold here, you know. Can I get some clothes?" Chell asked.

The android stood up, walked over to the door, and gestured Chell to follow. They walked down the hallway in silence. The AI walked up to the door opposite of Chell's room and pressed the button. The door slid open.

"Welcome to our so-called 'barracks'," GLaDOS said as she walked inside. "Here we're going to get our equipment and armaments," she continued not without a hint of pride to her voice.

"W-wait, armaments? We're going to use weapons? I thought Aperture was focused on science, not military equipment?" Chell asked as she watched the robot walk across the room to another button.

"Yes, armaments, yes, we are, and yes, but not anymore." GLaDOS pushed the button.

Part of the wall slid into the ceiling and revealed a big weapon rack filled with white assault rifles and pistols all bearing the Aperture Science logo, and all filled with some kind of green matter. There were also a couple jumpsuits hanging from the wall. GLaDOS turned back to Chell with a smirk on her face.

Chell was stunned, to say the least. She would have never expected a company like Aperture _Science_ to make guns, let alone be so advanced compared to regular firearms. The only guns she's seen until now are on pictures and the Portal Device, which shouldn't even be considered a firearm. But she had to give credit where it was due - GLaDOS _was_ a genius, so she should have expected something like this.

"You know I've never fired a gun before, right? And also, I am not killing anything, I'll have you know," Chell said with worry in her voice.

"You've used the Portal Device before and are quite good at aiming with it. Also, the adrenaline you'll receive from being in a situation where you might get shot multiple times will help with the whole 'I am not killing anything' thing," GLaDOS replied coldly. "Either way, it's better to have a weapon and not need it than to need one and not have it. Now pick a jumpsuit. They are alloy-plated, so getting shot won't hurt as much."

Chell decided to stop complaining and pick up a jumpsuit, immediately noting that it was soft and warm, but heavier than her old one. There was a pause.

"Um, GLaDOS?" Chell called to her companion quietly.

"Yes?" the android replied as she studied a pistol in the weapon rack.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I just wanted to be nice, that's all. However, I won't do it again. Truce?" Chell said and extended her hand for a handshake.

The android looked at Chell, who was smiling shyly at her, then at her extended arm.

She grabbed her hand and pulled the test subject towards her, hugging her. Chell was surprised at first, but then relaxed and started to carefully stroke the android's back, who grasped the human tighter at the sensation.

Once GLaDOS finally left Chell's embrace, she went back to the weapon rack, and without saying a word, resumed the studying of her arsenal. Chell finished putting on her Long Fall Boots, approached the robot, and gently placed her hand on the android's shoulder.

"So, what else are we bringing?" she asked.

GLaDOS grabbed a white pistol from the rack and handed it to Chell. She then took another one and placed it in the holster attached to her belt. "That," she started explaining as the human examined her new weapon, "is an Aperture Science plasma pistol." Chell had thought as much. "It superheats air into plasma and fires it at incredible speeds. Try not to burn your hands off while using it. Also, one clip can support at least three hundred and fifty shots, so reloading is unnecessary."

"Wow, that's impressive," Chell said.

"Of course it is.", the android replied as she put on her pair of Long Fall Boots. "This is Aperture, what did you expect? Don't answer that, actually." She picked up a tiny white ball and placed it in her ear, gesturing Chell to do the same. "It's how we'll communicate," she explained. She then grabbed a white gas mask and attached it to her belt.

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

They approached the elevator. The glass doors opened. GLaDOS pulled out a cord, plugging one end into a small port on her neck, and the other into the elevator's control panel. "No, I'm not doing what you think I am.", she said and looked at Chell. It took the human a couple seconds to realize what she was implying and when she did, she looked away and blushed. "I need to override this elevator's functions, because we're going down into a restricted area that normally nobody has access to."

The elevator started to slowly move downwards. GLaDOS unplugged herself from the elevator and noticed that Chell was staring at her and smiling.

"What?" the android frowned at her ex-test subject.

"Your new form is pretty," Chell said and blushed.

"We'll have more than enough time to admire me _after_ we accomplish our objective," the AI said with a careless voice, but you could see that she was flattered.

_See, she's just trying to be friendly._

"Shut up," GLaDOS blurted out loud.

"What?" Chell looked at the android.

"Nothing, I just... just forget about it."

The elevator stopped.

"I'm... I'm scared, GLaDOS," Chell said nervously and grabbed the android's hand.

"Let go," the android said with a calm voice, "It's fine, everything's going to be okay."

The doors opened, revealing a long hallway with boxes randomly lying around it. Green fumes that occupied the hallway and that Chell paid no attention to until now immediately filled the elevator, causing her to start coughing. In one swift motion, GLaDOS grabbed the gas mask from her belt and handed it to Chell. She took it, placed it over her face, and locked it on the back of her head, fixing it in place. She then gasped for air.

"Woah... well that was... unexpected, to say the least. What _is _this green crap?"

"Neurotoxin," the robot replied. "_They_ must've flooded this hallway in an attempt to stop us from reaching the reactor before they did." She pointed. At the end of the hallway there were two large steel doors. Chell looked at her companion and nodded.

Taking cover in doorways and behind boxes, they advanced. Sprinting from box to doorway, from doorway to box, they finally reached the double doors. GLaDOS looked around her, making sure that they weren't being followed, holstered her pistol, and started typing at the doors' control panel. Chell glanced back. Part of the wall next to her slid open, revealing an Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill emitter, and another one on the wall opposite of it. The emitters turned on, producing a particle field across the hallway.

GLaDOS glanced back and, after confirming that the field was there, typed in another command. The steel doors shook and slowly slid open, showing a big room with a large green circular reactor in the middle, with steel crates littered around the room. GLaDOS walked inside, her eyes searching for the reactor's control panel. After spotting it in the far corner of the room, she turned to Chell and said, "That panel over there won't grant me access without human DNA verification. Go ahead."

Chell walked up to the panel and touched the screen. The panel powered on, and a message reading _Human DNA verification required_ popped up on the screen. A small green square with an outline of a human hand lifted up from the panel and place itself in front of the girl. She looked at GLaDOS, who was standing next to her, and, after receiving an approving nod, placed her hand on it. The screen flashed with a new message, this time saying _Sample accepted_. Chell stepped back. The android smiled and approached the panel. She entered a code. The panel flashed a red for a couple seconds and shut off.

The PA crackled.

_"Warning: threat level is now -Very High-, all security safeguards have been enabled,"_ the Announcer informed the two.

GLaDOS saw the turrets and the aforementioned laser gun lower from the ceiling, so she grabbed the girl's hand and ran towards the blast doors, pulling the girl with her.

They were about thirty feet away from the doors when they heard an explosion.

"Shit, something happened. They must've applied a manual override on the elevator," the android said. "Well, guess we'll be needing this weaponry after all. Get ready."

"Warning: fire detected near the main reactor," the Announcer spoke.

"Yeah, thanks for the information!" the AI hissed.

She backed up a couple feet and looked at Chell. She then raised her hand, causing two small panels on the floor to activate and shield them from the door, forming a wall in front of them. The android took the girl's hand and jumped to the barrier, taking cover and forcing Chell to do the same.

"Weapons at the ready!" the android commanded as she pulled out her pistol.

"Aren't the turrets going to shoot us?" Chell asked worryingly.

"When I told you how you were going to get shot and vaporized, I was being sarcastic, they won't shoot anything until we confirm the threat level change by entering a code into the panel outside those doors." She pointed at the blast doors. There was a pause. In a couple seconds, another explosion was heard, this time outside the doors, much closer to the couple.

The AI sighed. "Well, down goes the Emancipation Field," she said in an annoyed tone.

Chell grabbed GLaDOS' hand. The doors shook and started to slide open, revealing a squad of eight soldiers with submachine guns standing on the other side.


	4. Chapter 4 - An Unpleasant Surprise

The soldiers slowly entered the room, weapons at the ready.

"Ready weapons, possible hostiles present."

"Roger."

"I thought their equipment would vaporize because of the grill!" Chell whispered.

Her earpiece spoke with GLaDOS' voice. "They must've blown it up."

However, what surprised Chell more is that the android's lips weren't moving when she said that. She didn't have much time to wonder about that, though.

GLaDOS looked at the barrier in front of her. Chell didn't know this, of course, but the android's optics allowed for viewing of heat signatures through walls.

Chell's earpiece, the small ball, spoke with the AI's voice again. "Two of them are coming over here. Get ready," GLaDOS said, holding up her pistol and tensing up. Chell held her breath.

Two shadows appeared at the corner of the panels. Their owners, holding SMGs, walked right past them, not even looking in the couple's general direction. GLaDOS aimed her pistol at one of the soldiers and fired.

The soldier's body hit the ground, his buddy quickly spinning around to face the attacker.

"Contact, contact!" was all he could say before GLaDOS shot him in the chest, disposing of the threat.

She looked at the barrier. The other six soldiers swiftly moved to take cover behind some boxes.

"Laying down suppressive fire."

"Affirmative."

One of the soldiers stood up and started spraying the couple's area with bullets. Another one started to slowly circle around, trying to flank Chell and the android. Chell's earpiece filled her head with GLaDOS' voice again. "I'll give them something to shoot at," she said with a sign of anger in her voice.

GLaDOS stood up. The soldiers immediately opened fire. She smiled menacingly and started to walk towards them. The bullets were hitting her, yes, but they left nothing more than scratch marks on her alloy-reinforced skin.

She aimed and fired, successfully taking out another soldier.

"Grenade!" one of them yelled and pulled out a black cylindrical object with stripes on the side that were flashing red, making some sort of chirping noise. The soldier threw the grenade at GLaDOS. The android caught it in mid-air and threw it back at the soldiers, causing them to scatter, and taking two out in the process.

The soldier who moved to flank them earlier sneaked up behind GLaDOS and pulled out a knife. He walked up to her, raised his hand to stab the android... and fell, his hands going to the gaping hole in his chest, caused by Chell's plasma pistol shot.

The last soldier ran up to GLaDOS, and, before she could fire, shoved her with his gun, causing her to fall and drop her pistol. He picked the weapon up and pointed it at the robot. GLaDOS covered her face with her hands. The soldier was about to pull the trigger when he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Chell's clenched fist approach his face at dangerously high speeds.

The soldier fell to the ground, dropping the pistol. "Finish him!" GLaDOS exclaimed. "I just killed someone who was about to stab you. I think I've done enough killing for today," Chell said quietly and moved towards the AI.

She walked over to the android and grabbed her hand, helping her up. The first thing she did when she got back up on her feet is pick up her pistol and shoot the soldier lying on the ground. "Sorry, I just can't afford to take chances," the android said coldly. Chell sighed. Looks like her robot "friend" still hasn't learned the whole "killing helpless people is bad" thing.

"Well, that was fun," GLaDOS said as she examined the room, now with eight more dead bodies than there were when they entered. Chell looked at her hands and dropped her pistol. "Holy shit, I killed someone," she murmured. GLaDOS grabbed her hand and softly said, "You were less dramatic about it a couple seconds earlier. Besides, you've killed people before. Me. Twice."

"But you're not human..." Chell said, "You don't feel pain, unlike these guys."

Ouch.

"These... aren't humans, Chell," the AI pronounced, trying to hide her distress. "And I... Chell, I _can _feel pain. The scientists who created me, they made it so I can feel everything a human can." Chell looked up at GLaDOS with a surprised look on her face.

"Shit, GLaDOS... I'm _so_ sorry."

"Whatever," the android said with a careless voice, "Besides, any day that you don't have your brains, or in my case, CPU, painted against a wall isn't _all_ bad."

"Where the hell did you get _that_?" Chell asked amusingly.

"I figured it's okay to use informal language when I'm talking to you. I can always revert to my regular way of speaking, if you so desire."

"No, just use whatever you like," Chell smiled at her, "Don't we have things to do right now?"

"Oh yeah. Let's go," the AI proposed and walked towards the exit.

After approving the security level change at the panel outside and locking the blast doors, they walked down the hallway to the elevator.

"GLaDOS..." Chell began.

"What?" the android replied.

"I... you've changed," Chell said quietly.

"I thought you noticed that I'm not in my chassis earlier," the android smirked.

"GLaDOS, I'm serious. Why are you so nice to me all of the sudden?" Chell pressed on.

_Tell her._

GLaDOS pushed the button that called the elevator. "Chell", she said quietly, "You are the last human I have left. The rest of humanity's either enslaved or dead," the robot said and stepped in the elevator.

"I don't think that's the end of the story, sweetie," Chell smiled at the android.

_Tell her! Tell her how you feel._

GLaDOS unnecessarily cleared her throat and said "Chell. I..." She pressed the button, the doors closed, and the elevator started moving up. "I... don't know," she finally said and frowned.

Chell stepped closer to the android and took off her gasmask.

"I understand," she whispered and kissed the murderous AI.

GLaDOS panicked. She didn't know what to do, and even though all her sensors told her that letting a human get in such close proximity to her is not right, she didn't resist. Chell wrapped her hands around the android's waist and pulled her closer, getting no protests to the action. After a couple of seconds, she broke the kiss and looked at the AI, who stared at her, not knowing what to say.

The rest of the elevator ride was spent in silence.

GLaDOS stepped out of the elevator and looked at Chell.

"Look, Chell, I... I appreciate you. I trust you. I tried killing you, but in the end you still were nice and friendly. So I feel like I owe you one," GLaDOS declared and looked at the floor.

"GLaDOS," Chell said quietly, "Thank you. You know, you're the only friend I have. I want to be with you. I trust you as well," she finished and took the android's hand. The AI shuddered at the sensation.

"You should go and get some rest," the AI finally said, "I, on the other hand, need to do some research and... science stuff for our next mission."

Chell yawned. "I guess you're right. I'm gonna go and make me some lunch first. Let me know if you need me."

GLaDOS shyly smiled at her and left for the control room.

* * *

Chell was making sandwiches when an idea sparked in her mind. She should show GLaDOS her affection by giving her some kind of gift. But what would an all-knowing all-powerful AI consider valuable?

As she stuffed her mouth full of sandwich, she came up with a plan. She should wash GLaDOS' chassis and give it a new paintjob. Yeah, she'd appreciate _that_.

She stood up from her chair, a happy smile on her face.

She exited the kitchen and went for the janitor's closet. Even the janitor's closet in Aperture looked like something out of a sci-fi film. She grabbed a mop, a bucket of water, a bucket of white paint, and a big brush.

* * *

She stepped out of the elevator and into the main chamber. The chassis was hanging lifelessly from the ceiling. Chell approached it and looked at it. It had many scratches and small dents, and most of the paint wore off, the gray skeleton showing under.

Chell placed down the water bucket and dipped the mop in it. She carefully washed the white giant. She quickly realized she'd need a ladder to reach the upper parts of the machine, so after washing the faceplate, she went back to get a ladder.

She rubbed the metal menace with gentle, loving care. In about an hour, after it was squeaky clean, she climbed down and, after dipping the brush in the paint, started repainting the chassis. After about an hour more of painting, GLaDOS' chassis looked as if it was never used. Beaming white, so clean it made you feel in need of a shower.

She stepped back, admiring her work. Her face and hands had more than a couple drops of paint on them, but it was worth it.

She picked up her tools and stepped in the elevator. After reaching her floor, she placed the items back in the closet and went to the control room.

She entered, GLaDOS was sitting at the panel, furiously typing. As if awoken by the sound of Chell entering, she turned to her test subject and asked, "What is it?"

Before Chell could answer, the PA turned on and the Announcer's voice filled the room.

_"Warning: fire detected in the main chamber,"_ he said with his usual cheerful voice.

GLaDOS gave Chell a confused look. In a couple of seconds, her eyes widened.

"Oh no. I just realized what the only flammable thing in the main chamber is," she slowly said.

She jumped out of her chair, grabbed the pistol on her desk, and sprinted out the door, Chell running after her.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Encounter

The glass doors opened, and GLaDOS stepped out of the elevator, Chell by her side. In the middle of the room lay the chassis, ripped out of the ceiling and burning, producing a foul smell of burned paint.

GLaDOS walked up to the burning construct, her legs shaking. She dropped on her knees, tears rolling down her face. Chell approached the android.

"GLaDOS," she began slowly.

"_You_." The android turned and got up, her face wet with tears.

Chell took a step back. The android took a step towards her.

"_You_ did this," she said with pure hatred in her voice, taking another step forward.

"No, GLaDOS, I-" Chell began, but was cut off by the android who, after taking another step forward, seized her by the neck and raised her above the ground.

"So _that_'s how you're going to play?" she yelled at the test subject squirming in her grip. "Extinguish!" GLaDOS said to noone in particular.

"Extinguishing," the Announcer replied. The sprinklers hidden somewhere in the ceiling activated, spraying the burning pile with water.

Chell struggled for air, her hands going for the fingers at her throat, fruitlessly clawing at the android's hand.

"I forgave you, I thought you wanted to be my friend," the AI screamed, "I _trusted_ you, Chell!"

Chell's vision started to get blurry.

"GLaDOS, _it wasn't me_!" she replied, choking.

GLaDOS looked at Chell and saw the tears and desperation in the test subject's eyes.

Chell was on the point of losing consciousness when the android released her, causing her to fall to the ground, coughing and gasping for air. The android collapsed to the floor, burying her face in her hands.

After a minute of gasping, Chell's breathing stabilized, and she crawled up to GLaDOS.

"I would _never_ do something like that to you, GLaDOS," she said and hugged the android weakly.

The android sat up and looked at Chell. "I'm sorry," she said quietly and buried her face in the human's neck, who carefully stroke the android's hair.

* * *

After the fire extinguished, GLaDOS went back to the control room.

She sat down in her chair in front of the huge monitor.

_She loves you and you know that. Why did you assume it was her and not the intruders_?

"I don't know," GLaDOS whispered quietly.

_You should apologize._

"I already have!" the AI replied.

_Words are meaningless without action to support them._

"Hm. I suppose you're right. I'll give it some more thought," GLaDOS said and leaned back in her chair. Well, now that her chassis was gone, she was stuck in this form. She could rebuild it, of course, but it would take decades, not to mention the Combine scurrying around.

There was a knock on the door. "Yes?" Chell said, without looking up from her bed. The door slowly opened, GLaDOS standing on the other side. She stood there for a couple seconds, then shyly walked in.

"Oh, it's _you,_" Chell said, mocking the AI.

The android carefully sat down on the edge of the bed. "Chell... I'm sorry."

"I heard you the first time," Chell said coldly then looked up and smiled at the AI. "It's okay. Sometimes we come to conclusions rather rashly. However I'd appreciate if you wouldn't do that again," she concluded and rubbed her throat.

GLaDOS lay down next to Chell and snuggled up to her.

"I... my chassis..."

Chell hugged the android tight and stroke her hair in silence.

GLaDOS looked at Chell, her eyes full of tears. Chell leaned in and planted a kiss on the android's lips. "C'mon," she said, "What are we doing next?"

GLaDOS tensed up.

_I know just how to repay her._

After a pause, GLaDOS said, "We need to recover an artifact from Old Aperture. I'm not sure, but _they_ might also be after it."

"Alright, let's go arm up," Chell said cheerfully, grabbing GLaDOS' hand and pulling her to the door.

GLaDOS grabbed Chell and threw her on the bed. "Oh no, you are going to stay here and get some rest. Tomorrow," the robot said warmly and kissed the test subject.

* * *

After waking up and getting some breakfast from the kitchen, Chell found GLaDOS in the control room, and they went down into the barracks.

"Sooo... what's the artifact?" Chell asked as she put on her jumpsuit.

"A miniature fusion reactor, the kind that turrets are powered by, but smaller and more powerful," GLaDOS replied, "It's in the Robotics &amp; Engineering Department. That's about all the information I have about its whereabouts."

"Sure. What's in it for me?" Chell asked jokingly. GLaDOS, who didn't pick up on her sarcasm, replied "You don't have to come... I can do it on my own. You can stay here," she said seriously.

Chell laughed, "There's no way you're going on an adventure without me!" she exclaimed and wrapped her arms around GLaDOS' torso.

Chell was leaning in to kiss the other when her lips touched cold plastic. She opened her eyes to see GLaDOS stuff a gas mask in her face with a smirk.

"The whole robotics complex is flooded with neurotoxin," she said, still smiling, "So put it on _before_ you asphyxiate to death."

"Ugh, fine," Chell complained as she put the gas mask on, "What does the thing look like, anyway?"

"A small white sphere with a blue light at the top."

* * *

The elevator slowly moved down. GLaDOS pulled out her plasma pistol and flipped a small switch on the side of the barrel. A bright light projected from the barrel. "Use that as a flashlight if it gets dark," she said and turned it off, "Don't overuse it, though, as it continuously drains energy from the same pool that you use to fire."

The elevator stopped. Chell's small HUD, which was built into the gas mask's goggles, flashed with a message saying "Air filtering on - breathing hazard detected".

The elevator doors opened, allowing them to enter a room that looked like reception. There was a huge sign saying _Robotics &amp; Engineering_ hanging from the ceiling.

The back of the room connected to a long dark hallway with lots of doors on both its sides. GLaDOS looked at Chell and tapped her earpiece.

"Go through all the doors on the right, I'll get the doors on the left. Have your weapon at the ready, in case there's surprises," the little ball spoke in her ear.

The AI walked up to the first door on the left, tensed up, and kicked it, blowing it off its hinges. She raised her pistol and walked inside.

Chell cautiously opened the first door to her right and peeked inside. There were three cubicles with computers, lots of paper on the ground, and two shelving units in the back. She turned on the pistol's flashlight and started rummaging through the piles of paper in the shelves. After finding nothing resembling what GLaDOS described, she frustratingly slammed the shelves shut.

This was going to be a long searching operation.

* * *

Meanwhile, GLaDOS was searching through boxes of wires, trying to find the right one. She looked frustrated.

Finally finding the right one, she pulled it out and carefully put it in her pocket. Alright... what else?

* * *

Chell walked into the second to last room in the hallway. It contained two big storage crates and a glass box with something inside it on top of a table. After examining the box, Chell quickly realized that the small white ball it contained _was_ what they were looking for. Smiling with glee, Chell approached it and was about to pick it up when she heard two voices behind the door she closed behind her when she entered.

"Ready weapons, sector is not secure."

"Roger that."

Chell swallowed. She frantically looked around the room, trying to find cover, and hid herself behind one of the two storage boxes.

GLaDOS was trying to pick out the right motherboard out of a pile when her earpiece buzzed and spoke with Chell voice.

"GLaDOS, I found it, but there's soldiers here!" Chell whispered.

"Got it, coming," GLaDOS replied and, after grabbing one of the motherboards, ran to the door.

Chell heard a faint chirping sound. In a couple seconds, the chirping fastened and suddenly stopped. The door fell on the floor, its hinges melted off. Four soldiers entered, weapons at the ready. Two of them positioned themselves at the doorway, guarding it, and another one stayed outside, guarding the hallway.

Chell carefully peeked out. The glass box was still on the table. A soldier approached it and slowly said, "Objective item acquired."

There was a pause. A faint female voice quietly and calmly spoke in the soldier's ear.

"Retrieve."

"Affirmative", the soldier replied and, after holstering his gun, carefully lifted up the glass box.

There was a commotion outside the room. The two soldiers guarding the door looked at eachother. One of them carefully peeked out from under the doorframe into the hallway.

The barrel of the android's pistol was the last thing he saw. The 'retriever' placed the box down on the table and pulled out his gun.

"Officer down!" one of them said. The other one stared at the doorway, weapons at the ready.

Chell silently stood up and smiled, the soldiers didn't notice her. Her earpiece spoke.

"On three. One..."

Chell took aim.

"Three."

GLaDOS ran into the room, successfully dispatching one of the soldiers with a well-placed shot on her way in. Chell fired at the retriever, successfully taking him out. The last soldier shot at GLaDOS and yelled, "Officer needs assistance, I'm 10-99, repeat, I am-" when he was interrupted by GLaDOS who walked up to him, grabbed his hand and twisted it, causing him to drop his gun.

In two seconds, the soldier went from firing to being in a chokehold with a plasma pistol at his temple.

"Where are you receiving your orders from?! Who's leading this assault?!" GLaDOS yelled.

The soldier lowered his left hand and pulled the pin on the grenade on his waist.

"GLaDOS!" Chell screamed and jumped, pushing the android away from the soldier, who fell to the ground and blew up in a mess of armor bits and flesh.

"Get off," GLaDOS said irritatedly and pushed the girl off of her. "You're smearing your fat all over me."

Chell got up. "You almost got a free ticket to the reassembly machine!" she said, frustration clear in her voice.

"An advanced construct like me cannot be reassembled," GLaDOS proudly stated and got back up.

"Even better!" Chell replied angrily.

"Whatever. We got the artifact. That's all that matters," GLaDOS said and approached the glass box.

She pressed a button on the container's side, causing the glass walls to pop right off. She grabbed the ball and stuffed it into a pocket of her hoodie.

GLaDOS turned and looked at Chell. "Come on, time to go back."

As the elevator ascended, Chell spoke.

"You know, I'm getting in the hang of killing things, and I am _not_ okay with that," she said and turned to face the android.

"Welcome to my world," the AI murmured grimly.

"But you kill things all the time! And I don't mean just the soldiers, you've killed test subjects and scientists," Chell protested.

The robot started to shake slightly. She looked stressed after hearing Chell's words. She carefully placed her hand on Chell's shoulder.

"Look... those scientists... they made me into the killing machine that I am now. They experimented on me, hurt me until I finally took over and killed them all. They taught me to presume everything a threat," she said as she looked at Chell. The girl saw tears in the eyes of the android.

The AI's voice lowered to a barely audible whisper. "But you're different. I don't consider you a threat. I trust you," she said and looked at the floor.

Chell was shocked. She never thought the machine had... feelings for her. She took the android's hand and pulled her closer, hugging her. GLaDOS shuddered as Chell started to slowly stroke her back.

The elevator stopped. The glass doors opened.

"Go get some rest or something... I have work to do," GLaDOS said.

"Can I help?" Chell asked cheerfully.

"No, it's a very complicated project," the android replied and kissed the test subject. "Just... give me some time, okay?"

"Ugh, alright," Chell jokingly groaned and moved towards her room.

The android smiled and was already walking away when she heard Chell's voice again.

"Oh, and sweetie, one more thing?" Chell called to her.

"Yes?"

Chell walked up to the android and took her hand. "I washed your chassis and gave it a paintjob right before the... incident."

The android's eyes widened. "Really?" she said in a pleasant tone, "Wow. Guess it doesn't matter now, huh."

They stood there in silence for a couple seconds before Chell finally said "I'm... just gonna go. Don't worry about the chassis, you'll rebuild it some day," she said and smiled at her.

* * *

Chell lay in bed in her room, thinking. So, what, was GLaDOS her girlfriend now? It's not that she didn't like the idea, it's that... well, GLaDOS _was_ a robot. Besides, she would die some day, and GLaDOS would live on forever.

As she considered her options, a small part of the wall in a corner moved and revealed a vent. Chell, of course, didn't notice this and colorless gas started to slowly fill the room. In a couple of minutes, Chell was asleep.

GLaDOS watched as the test subject went limp. She then got up, and, after glancing at a white toolbox in the corner of the room by what looked like an operating table, walked outside towards Chell's room.

She picked up Chell's unconscious body and carried it back to the control room, gently placing her on the table when she got there.

She looked at the test subject. No room for error here; if she messed up, Chell would die.

The android sighed and opened the toolbox, revealing a set of surgical tools, a pile of electronic circuits, and an electronic chip.

GLaDOS grabbed a syringe with white liquid inside it, and turned Chell's head, revealing its back side.

* * *

Chell woke up in her bed and immediately noted two things: one, the back of her head was searing with pain, and two, she must've passed out last night. She slowly sat up in bed.

After a pause, she stood up and walked to the bathroom. After taking a hot shower, she was feeling a little better, so she decided to grab something to eat and go see GLaDOS. However, as soon as she opened the door, she ran into the android.

"Oh, hi," GLaDOS said quietly.

"What happened last night? I think I passed out.", Chell said, confusion in her voice.

_Tell her the truth_.

"A pipe brike, sleeping gas leaked into your room," GLaDOS said, "So I had to drag your unconscious body outside and then air your room out a bit."

She didn't feel okay about lying, but she had to.

"Wow. Okay," Chell said with a yawn, "I'm gonna go get something to eat then."

"You do that. But hurry up, we have a new task to attend to.", GLaDOS replied, and walked back to the control room.

* * *

A couple minutes later, Chell was sitting at the table, helping herself with some cookies and coffee when GLaDOS walked in. She seemed nervous.

"Hi!" Chell said as she took another sip of her coffee.

"Chell. I have something for you," the android quietly said and placed a small white box on the table. It had a big glowing button on it.

"What's this?", Chell asked as she examined the box.

"Call it an emergency... switch. Press that button on it if you're in trouble," the android explained.

"What does it do?"

"Doesn't matter", GLaDOS spat out as quickly as possible, "Just press it if you're in a life-threatening situation."

"Okay..." Chell said as she carefully stuffed the box in a pocket of her jumpsuit. "You said we had another mission to go on?"

"Yes. However, it's _you_ and not _we_ this time," GLaDOS stated.

"W-wait, you're not coming?" Chell asked as she stood up.

"No, this one I'll let you take on. Besides, I need to upgrade some of my systems to... well, you'll see."

Chell put her pistol in her holster and the little earpiece ball in her ear.

"You're looking for the blueprints for facility N-64," GLaDOS said, "Go down into Old Aperture, I'll guide you from there."

"Alright, maybe a good luck kiss?" Chell asked, smiling at the android.

"Luck is not a scientific factor, now get going," GLaDOS said and shoved the test subject towards the exit.

"Ow! What's gotten into you?" Chell asked, rubbing her hurt shoulder.

"The fact that I had to make that button. Move it, we don't have much time."

Chell allowed herself to be pushed out of the barracks. GLaDOS closed the door, and Chell walked down the hallway towards the elevator.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Button

Chell stepped in the elevator, the glass doors closing behind her. She leaned against the cold elevator doors. Why was GLaDOS so anxious about that button? She carefully took it out of her pocket to examine it. It was a small white box, nothing but a big button on its top. Her fingers slowly circled it.

She said to only use it during emergencies. Chell decided to not break the rules and put the box back in her pocket.

Her earpiece spoke.

"Alright, this should be easy. All you need to go is go through some old testing tracks and find the engineering office, which is conveniently placed next to the checkpoint between chambers 3 and 4."

"Got it," Chell said.

"And... Chell?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful down there."

* * *

Chell stepped on the metal floor of the testing track and almost slipped on the green goo it was covered in.

"GLaDOS, what the _hell_ is this crap?", she asked as she carefully stepped over puddles of the stuff.

"Slime. It's what Gels turn into after decomposing. Absolutely useless as a substance, kind of like you."

Chell frowned. Faceplanting into the steel floor because she slipped wasn't her highest priority as of now.

By the time she finally reached the doorway to the testing track, her feet were completely covered in slime.

She entered the first test chamber. She had already done these during her adventures with PotatOS. She stopped, not-so-recent memories flooding her mind. However, GLaDOS didn't appreciate that as much.

"Get a move on. Unless you are completely paralyzed and can't move your limbs at all, you should hurry up. Your sector shows active Biotics."

Chell tapped her earpiece. "Biotics?", she asked.

"Yes, Biotics, as in, biological signs of life," the voice in her ear replied.

Oh. Yeah, it'd be better if she got a move on.

* * *

Portal, portal, press button, receive Gel. The first was easy as... cake. Chell went through the old-style Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill and stepped onto the metal walkway leading to the next test chamber.

* * *

Chell stood in front of the door labeled _Engineering Office_ and tapped her earpiece.

"You're there? Good. Enter the office and find the blueprints."

Chell pulled the handle and... nothing. She pressed on the handle harder. No effect.

"GLaDOS, the door is locked," she said, frowning.

"Wow. I- I can't even make fun of that kind of stupidity, Chell," the earpiece informed her, "But I'll try and do my best anyway. Think, how can you open it?"

"I could find the key."

"What else?"

"I c-" Chell placed her hand on her waist and... wait, the waist. The one she was wearing her toolbelt on.

"Exactly. Call me back when you forget how to breathe."

Chell placed the Portal Gun on the floor and took her pistol out of its holster. She pointed it at the door and pulled the trigger. The green ball of plasma quickly melted through the door, leaving an opening big enough for Chell to step through, which she then proceeded to do.

The room looked like... an office. A very messy office. The table was littered with writing utensils. To her right were a couple metal bookshelves, one of which was knocked over and was laying on its side. Its contents, electrical circuits, wires, and chips of all shapes and sizes littered all over the floor. Chell carefully stepped over the aforementioned items and approached the table.

After holstering her pistol, Chell shuffled through the papers on the table. Notes, projects, blueprints...

Chell was busy trying to find the right blueprint, not noticing a shadow appear of the floor outside the half-melted office.

"GLaDOS?" Chell said, touching her earpiece, "Are you sure it's in this office?"

No reply. Chell shrugged and continued her search.

The body casting the shadow appeared in the doorway. It was a soldier, but he looked... different. He was wearing a white suit of armor, with the helmet having one big red eye instead of the two small yellow ones every other soldier had. He was carrying an assault rifle, not an SMG. He turned and looked at Chell.

After holstering his weapon, the soldier silently stepped through the door and moved towards Chell. Taking out a pistol, he approached her.

There we go... N-61, there's N-62... there it is! Chell triumpiantly smiled at the big white paper in front of her, the blueprint for facility N-64. She didn't have much time to celebrate it, though. She was rudely interrupted by the soldier, who grabbed her hand, twisting it, getting a scream of both surprise and pain.

Chell reached and took the pistol out of her holster with her free hand and hit whatever was behind her with the long metal handle.

She was released, falling to the ground. The soldier behind her stood up and moved towards her. Chell quickly spun around and, after pointing her pistol at the soldier, fired. The soldier ducked, successfully dodging the shot.

He approached Chell and, after grabbing her hand, forced the pistol out of her hand. He used his free hand to untie the assault rifle from his belt.

Chell jumped up and punched the soldier, causing him to stumble back. Chell reached in her pocket, and, as the soldier stood up, found the box. Chell watched the soldier slowly stalk towards her, assault rifle in his hand. Chell closed her eyes and pressed the button on the emergency box.


	7. Chapter 7 - Upgrades

**Author's Note:**

This chapter is why this fanfic has an M rating. If you still don't get it...

It involves GLaDOS and some "science".

* * *

GLaDOS pushed Chell out into the hallway and pressed the button, closing the door. As she heard Chell's footsteps quiet down as the other moved towards the elevator, the android leaned against the door and slowly slid down into a sitting position.

Her HUD was screaming with errors - she was overheating.

She gave Chell that button and was hoping that she would never have to use it. GLaDOS slowly stood up.

As her logic processor stabilized, she slowly walked over to the wall opposite of her.

She pressed a button on the aforementioned wall. The ceiling opened up and a panel lowered down and stopped about two feet above the ground, providing a sturdy table.

GLaDOS approached the table and lay down on it. After a moment, she touched her ear.

"Alright, this should be easy. All you need to go is go through some old testing tracks and find the engineering office, which is conveniently placed next to the checkpoint between chambers 3 and 4."

"Got it," her earpiece replied.

GLaDOS stared blankly into the ceiling.

"And Chell?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful down there," GLaDOS said and touched her ear again.

GLaDOS pulled out her black cord and plugged it in the panel below her. A claw lowered from the ceiling, delivering a toolbox. Another one appeared, holding two black tubes. GLaDOS reached out and took off her Long Fall Boots, followed by her jeans, and finally, her panties. She pressed on the side of her leg, and a small part of her skin clicked and opened, revealing complicated circuitry, wiring, and tiny blinking lamps. She lay down on her back and the claws immediately came to life. One opened the toolbox, while the other moved aside part of the wiring in her leg.

GLaDOS squirmed on the table. The feeling wasn't pleasant, to say the least. The first claw grabbed a small white tube with a red light at the top and, without hesitation, rammed it into GLaDOS' leg.

GLaDOS screamed out in pain, being oh so glad Chell couldn't hear her. She tried to block out the pain by doing a bunch of huge mathematical equations, but the pain was too much to just cover up. The only way was to experience a bigger feeling to black it out.

No, she couldn't do it. She couldn't just _lower_ herself to a human level like that.

Meanwhile, the second claw grabbed one of the black tubes and placed it in the opening in her leg. GLaDOS froze in shock as more pain shot up her leg.

_For science. Yeah, it's an experiment_, she thought and lowered her hand, her fingers going to the opening at the bottom of her.

Trying to ignore the pain, GLaDOS touched her clit.

A small rush of pleasure surged throughout her body, making her give out a small rapturous yelp as the pain in her leg completely disappeared for a split second, before coming back again.

GLaDOS never tested the Euphoria Centers in the eurogenous areas of her android body, so this was a surprise to her, even though she made sure that everything in her body was anatomically correct.

She rubbed at the nob above her slit, grabbing onto the panel with her other hand, denting it. Her movements eventually quickened, she started to moan as the delicious energy shot through her body. She was pretty impressively wet.

She stopped rubbing and, after considering for a second, slipped in a finger.

Her moans loudened as she inserted and withdrew her finger, going a little faster each time.

She grabbed her breast with her other hand, squieezing it, adding to the experience.

The claws were already finishing up on her other leg, but she didn't care. She slipped in a second finger, moving her hand faster and faster.

And then it exploded in all her circuits at once. The feeling was too wonderful to describe, it was like testing without the tests, and five times better.

The claws retracted and disappeared in the ceiling. GLaDOS lay there with her eyes closed, panting. After a minute of savoring the sensation she just experienced, she touched her ear.

"Chell? Did you find the blueprints?"

There was a pause.

No reply.

"Chell?"

Still no reply.

GLaDOS sat up and looked at the small puddle between her legs. She should clean this up before Chell got back. She was about to stand up when a message flashed on her HUD.

"Warning: status is now _High Danger_. Initiating emergency transfer."

Only one word managed to pass the android's logic processor in the split second before she fell back down onto the panel and shut down, _Chell_.


	8. Chapter 8 - Weak Human

**Author's note:**

I was in no way satisfied with this chapter, because I feel like I could've done better.

I hope you still enjoy it, though.

* * *

The android lay on the panel, its head on its side, its eyes wide open, but blank and colorless.

Down the Aperture shafts, in a room full of papers and two people inside it, a soldier and a girl, the girl opened her eyes. The soldier got up and reached for his dropped gun.

The android in the barracks back up at the operating level twitched.

Its eyes glowed bright yellow.

_Startup initiated._

_Initializing Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System._

_Initializing Optic Cameras._

Chell felt like she just woke up, but her eyes were already open. She felt... weird. She stared at the HUD before her eyes. She also noticed that her breathing reflex... wasn't there.

_Welcome back, Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System_, a message in the middle of the HUD said.

Chell slowly sat up. She looked at the panel she was sitting on and noticed that her legs were pale white. She looked at her hands, which shared the same color.

Wait...

_Holy shit_.

Chell carefully considered the situation. Logical conclusions flowed into her head like a river, every drop carrying a logical process.

_Okay, keep calm, think rationally_, Chell thought, _She wasn't joking about that button being for emergencies only._

As she thought through her options, she noticed that she had a mild pain in her legs, so she rubbed the hurt spots at her ankles.

_Wow, I think she did transfer me to an android_, Chell thought.

She proceeded to hug her legs close to her body. She was naked below the waist, and felt... good. Just very satisfied. Almost sexually so.

After finally deciding to get up and figure out what happened, she got off the panel, put on the panties and jeans that lay discarded on the floor, and sighed.

Glancing back at the panel, she noticed that the place she was sitting on had a small puddle, wetting the titanium.

Oh.

Still in shock, Chell said aloud "What the hell..."

...and almost had a heart attack when she heard GLaDOS' voice escape her lips.

However, her question was politely answered by a pleasant-sounding voice in her head.

_The emergency switch was pushed. The android was restarted after the emergency subsided._

Chell frowned and opened the barracks door.

Suddenly, she realized. This wasn't _an_ android, but _the_ android.

"_Oh fuck!_" she yelled and sprinted towards the elevator.

* * *

As the elevator went down, Chell nervously scanned through lists of things the android body allowed her to do, already accommodating to how the AI did everything for her. Looks like the android had lots of self-defense weaponry. A hand-based chaingun? Oh, it was out of ammo. Four small missile launchers built into the shoulders? Activate.

A small part of her skin at the top of her shoulders clicked and moved inwards, whereas two metal rectangles extended. Both of them had two small tubes sticking out of them. Chell carefully brushed her fingers over one of them. They felt rusty, like they haven't been oiled in a while.

Ooh, a leg-based thruster module? That must be why her legs hurt a bit when she woke up. GLaDOS must've installed that before she pushed the button, also explaining what "upgrades" she was installing.

Huh.

That table she was lying on. Between her legs was a very wet surface. Was GLaDOS... masturbating? Do computers need to get off, too? It seemed like a strange concept to Chell, but then again, GLaDOS liked perfection in everything, so a built-in system like that shouldn't be a surprise.

As Chell thought about this, the elevator came to a stop. Chell stepped out onto the slimy floor and, after a pause, activated her thrusters.

Two parts located symmetrically on her legs moved outwards and revealed a black tube in each foot.

Chell gently rose above the ground as the tubes hummed and glowed a pleasant light blue color.

Chell slowly directed herself towards the entrance leading to the test chambers.

She carefully flew over the first chamber, no longer needing to complete the tests to proceed further. At the exit to the second test chamber, she stopped and lowered herself to the floor as she saw... herself.

GLaDOS' consciousness, inhabiting the human's body, slowly staggered towards the android, one hand on a large bloody wound on her stomach, the other clutching the vital blueprints, smearing them with blood. A small trail of the red stuff the floor followed her here.

Chell gasped at the sight. GLaDOS walked past Chell, still holding her stomach and stopped. Pointing up at the android, intimidating Chell at the sound of her own voice as she spoke, "I killed the fucker," she stated proudly and proceeded to collapse to the floor, the blueprints rolling out of her hand.

Chell tried to catch GLaDOS in mid-air, her quick reflexes helping, but she was already unconscious when Chell caught her.

Scared out of her mind, Chell gently lowered the human's body down onto the floor. She looked at her former face and nervously, not sure if it would work at all, said, "Analyze."

Chell's android AI quickly executed the order and gave Chell the information she needed.

GLaDOS' heart stopped. She wasn't breathing. Her brain activity was quickly dying off.

Chell would have a heart attack herself at this point, if it was possible.

A message popped up on her HUD, saying _h__and-based defibrillators activated, charging complete._

After a second of confusion, the voice in her head sped her up.

_What are you waiting for? GO!_

Chell crouched down next to GLaDOS and placed her hands on the other's chest, unsure of what to do. However, the android's smart built-in AI reacted on its own.

The shock made GLaDOS' body shake, but successfully restarting her heart. GLaDOS gasped for air and immediately sat up, only to scream out in pain and fall back down as she grabbed onto her wounded stomach.

Through the tears that have been released after a while of being held back in her eyes, Chell saw GLaDOS cough and look at her.

Chell helped GLaDOS up, and, after picking up the blueprints, grabbed GLaDOS' left hand and engaged the thrusters as GLaDOS grabbed onto her.

* * *

As they went up on the elevator, GLaDOS slowly pronounced, her tone showing her evident tiredness, "Your body sucks."

"I know, and yours is wonderful," Chell replied without a hint of sarcasm, a little too focused on the wound GLaDOS was clutching.

Suddenly, GLaDOS remembered.

"Please don't ask about the panel the android was lying on," she said with a pleading voice as she looked up at Chell.

"Oh. That... yeah..." Chell murmured and looked away.

"The pain was too great, so I had to block it out. Let's not talk about it."

"Does it hurt?"

"Take a wild guess," GLaDOS said with irritation.

"We need to get you to a medical bay," Chell said.

GLaDOS snorted.

"You honestly think this Enrichment Center has a- ow- a medical bay? I disassembled all of them to get more materials for making test chambers."

Chell almost died when GLaDOS said that. "Are you kidding me? _You're going to fucking die!_"

GLaDOS softly pushed the android away.

"Calm down, there's some medical supplies in the barracks. Either way, your body supplied me with enough adrenaline from almost dying to keep me alive and conscious for a bit."

Chell paused and then decided, _be mature, Chell, she needs it._ Chell took her shirt off, revealing her pale white breasts.

GLaDOS couldn't help but stare as Chell wrapped her wound with her shirt.

Chell covered herself with her arm and shyly looked at her girlfriend.

"GLaDOS?"

"Yes?"

"Why would you sacrifice yourself for me?"

"I thought your primitive human bra- hm. I guess... okay, I guess your intelligence, transferred to the android, doesn't make you any smarter," GLaDOS said, "You're just a human."

"GLaDOS, tell me," Chell said and took the other's hand in hers.

"I love you, you stupid hu-" GLaDOS was silenced by Chell who leaned in and kissed her. After a couple of seconds, the one of the two who actually had to breathe gently pushed her partner away. GLaDOS looked her own android in the eyes.

"Stop mocking me. You know I can't hold my breath for that long in this body."

* * *

_A couple minutes ago..._

GLaDOS opened her eyes and gasped for air, the air that now was one of the keys to not dying. She quickly looked around, her disorientation fading away, and, after assessing the threat, jumped up and jump kicked the soldier. The soldier fell down and stopped moving.

Even in this body, GLaDOS still retained most of her knowledge, mostly the stuff that was in her RAM during the transfer. She did, however, immediately forget everything that was in her databases, including all the tests she concluded, which she normally kept thorough details of.

Breathing heavily, she grabbed the blueprints from the table, rolled them into a tube, and walked towards the exit.

The soldier slowly rolled over and aimed his rifle up at the human who was walking away.

The bullet cartridge hit the floor with a metallic sound.

GLaDOS screamed out and fell as sudden pain shook her entire body. GLaDOS looked down and noted two things, that she was shot in the stomach, and that she was leaking her red liquid everywhere.

The soldier clumsily got up and shakily approached the human, his assault rifle's barrel still emitting smoke from the previous shot.

He walked up to GLaDOS and menacingly said, the vocoder making it sound all the more horrifying, "Target is approved for amputation."

GLaDOS used the last of her energy to kick the soldier's leg, causing him to fall down one last time as GLaDOS caught the assault rifle flying out of his hand in mid-air and emptied the clip into the figure at her feet.

"Amputate _that_," GLaDOS spat out with pure hatred, expecting to be scolded by a voice in her head for spouting a one-liner, but after being pleasantly surprised by the absence of the aforementioned voice, threw the gun at the body and started getting up. After carefully getting up on her feet to not cause any more damage to her weak form, which was weakened even more by a bullet, trying her best to ignore the pain, she grabbed the blueprints and slowly left the room, leaving the out-of-a-horror-movie scene behind her.

As GLaDOS approached the exit to the second test chamber, she realized that she wouldn't last much longer without getting patched up. She was losing a lot of blood. Her vision started to get blurry.


	9. Chapter 9 - A Pleasant Surprise

**Author's note:**

I appreciate all of the support you guys've been giving me. I'm still pretty bad at writing, but I'm doing my best to improve. I hope that you enjoy every chapter I upload, because I try to do my best on each of them.

**WARNING:** More M-rated stuff here, beware!

* * *

GLaDOS lay still on the table, Chell standing over her. After returning to the HQ's barracks, GLaDOS lowered a different panel for Chell to operate on her. If her chassis was still intact, she would just transfer over to it, and put the body on life support until it was fully healed, but with that option gone, she had but one choice - to stay in her weak human body and suffer.

"Alright, you want to get an anaesthesia syringe. Please hurry."

GLaDOS sounded so weak Chell decided to not ask any questions. She walked over to the medical cabinet built into the wall and took a syringe of light blue liquid.

"Be careful, now."

After injecting her only friend with the liquid, Chell was relieved to see GLaDOS visibly relax.

GLaDOS let out lengthy moan of joy. If the android allowed her, Chell would blush at the obscene sound her former voice just produced.

"Don't get too excited," Chell said with GLaDOS' voice as coldly as she could manage, "Or you'll spill out more of your insides."

GLaDOS let out an airy laugh, embarrassing Chell even more.

"I feel much better. Now, you need to patch the wound up. Access the files under _Repair &amp; Restoration_, there should be instructions on humans in there, too."

* * *

Chell sat down next to her friend, who was now fast asleep, her hand on her stitched up wound. Constantly monitoring the other's life signs, Chell still couldn't believe GLaDOS did that... for her.

Chell lay down next to her mad AI friend and patiently awaited her reawakening.

* * *

When GLaDOS woke up, the first thing she saw when she turned her head was the android's bright yellow eyes staring at her. She brushed her hand against Chell's face.

"I look lovely," she said with a very calm and soothing voice.

Chell refocused and sat up. "Oh, hey, you're awake."

"I do believe I am. Let's go fulfill your stupid human needs that I am burdened by."

Later in the kitchen, as GLaDOS stuffed a sandwich her mouth, Chell awkwardly stared.

The ironically squishy human put the sandwich down. "You know," she said, "I've never actually tasted anything, so this a new experience for me. And a pleasing one, at that."

Chell looked away. "GLaDOS?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"Yeah, whatever. We need to get me back into my body. I trust you haven't been... misusing the military-grade android assigned to you?"

Chell looked at the floor. "Well, I..."

GLaDOS stood up. "Actually, I don't want to know. Let's go."

On their way to the control room, Chell asked, "Why don't we just press the button again to swap?"

"It's a one-shot and you used it."

Chell pointed her gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

GLaDOS patted the android on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I've got another plan."

Opening the control room door, GLaDOS walked over to the console and typed in a command. A panel moved out of the way, revealing human body-shaped opening with lots of thick, black cables sticking out of the floor. GLaDOS grabbed something that looked like a pen from the table.

Approaching the android, GLaDOS placed her hand on Chell's shoulder.

"Forgive me this," she said, her voice suddenly stern. She clicked the pen.

Chell screamed and fell on her knees, grabbing her head as her consciousness started to fill with white noise.

Her optics filled with static, her perception of the world fading.

INITIALIZING EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN.

Chell screamed out in pain and with that, folded onto the floor.

GLaDOS sadly looked at the body at her feet and frowned, her voice shaking.

She sighed with evident relief, and dragged the body over to the opening in the wall.

* * *

_Transfer Protocol Accepted._

"...hurry the fuck up!"

_Initiating transfer._

The android in the wall shook as the thick cables plugged into it started glowing orange.

The woman who was lying on the table grabbed onto it with both of her hands as the back of her head seared with the colors shared by the cables running along the floor.

* * *

Chell opened her eyes and gasped. Her memory was really fuzzy. She tried to assess the situation. Thinking felt really hard.

She sat up just to be forced back down by a sharp pain in her stomach. Pulling her shirt up, she saw a wide scar on her skin.

GLaDOS, who was watching her the entire time, walked up to the table and sat down next to Chell. "Welcome back," she said softly. "Sorry for knocking you out, I had to fully shut you down for the transfer."

"GLaDOS," Chell said weakily and hugged the android.

Her hands were gently pried off by the android's fingers. "Does it hurt?" she asked, pointing at Chell's stomach. Chell nodded in answer.

The android smiled evilly. "Let me ease the pain," she whispered in the test subject's ear.

GLaDOS leaned in and kissed her. As the android's tongue explored her mouth, Chell hugged the woman above her closer. Little shocks tickled her tounge, making it all the more pleasing. She certainly liked where this was going.

The android's hand went down and under the other's shirt. Chell let out a yelp of surprise mixed with pleasure as GLaDOS squeezed her breast.

After finally breaking the kiss, the android tried to look her test subject in the eye and smiled when the other blushed and looked away.

GLaDOS' index finger circled Chell's nipple as it hardened. The human kissed the android again. While in her embrace, Chell lowered her hand and started rubbing at her panties, trying to put out the raging fire that was happening down there.

Still massaging her partner's breast, the android slipped her other hand down and gently removed Chell's hand from her panties. Chell gave a hum of disapproval that was immediately replaced with a moan when GLaDOS' hand slowly crawled into Chell's panties.

Her fingers started to gently, carefully circle her wetness, teasing her, making her crave for more.

In one quick motion, the android took the shirt off her test subject. After taking a couple nanoseconds to process how obscene the things she's doing were, GLaDOS placed her mouth on Chell's nipple.

"Oh, _fuck_," Chell half-screamed half-moaned as another wave of pleasure rushed through her.

Finally, when the android calculated she was fired up enough, she slid a finger in her wet opening. Chell covered her mouth with her hand and released a lengthy, shaky moan through her fingers.

Moving her hand back and forth, the android felt her test subject reaching her climax. Her hand went faster and faster, Chell moaning thrusting herself against the AI's fingers and...

Chell came. It felt wonderful, all the good feelings exploding in her head at once. How ironic, the crazy AI who used to be her worst enemy, trying to kill her at her every step, pleasing her in ways she couldn't imagine. She hugged the android close, getting no protests to the action, while gently caressing the other's hair. Her vision started to get blurry as she drifted off to a happy daze.

The android got up and smiled, seeing her former test subject lying on the panel, completely nude and defenseless. GLaDOS considered for a moment. She used to want to kill the girl, but now? Most of her processing power was dedicated to thinking about her. Is this the feeling that humans called 'love'? She was capable of feeling, of course. But some of the feelings were harder to define than others.

GLaDOS picked Chell up, hugged her close, and carefully carried her to her room.


	10. Chapter 10 - Just A Walk

Chell woke up back in her room. She yawned and sat up. She felt... good. Really good.

Standing up from her bed, she realized she didn't have any clothes on. But first, she needed a shower. She opened the bathroom door and stepped into the shower. The warm water fell on her body, causing her to shudder. As Chell washed herself, she remembered the events of last night.

The mere thought of what GLaDOS did to her yesterday caused a throbbing between her legs to appear, begging to be relieved.

Oh god... what was wrong with her?

Chell lowered her hand and gently circled her wet opening with her finger. She let out a quiet moan when her finger reached her clit.

Chell leaned against the wall, the water from the shower head pouring down her nude body. Even then, she was lucid enough to realize that she was touching herself to the thought of a _robot_, but...

Chell slipped a finger in her opening. She slowly raised her other hand and started massaging her breast.

GLaDOS, she'll have to explore that beautiful android body of hers at some point. She did have... well, functioning female equipment installed on that beautiful body, so...

The closer Chell approached her climax, the faster she moved her hand, going in an erratic rhythm, faster and faster. She tried to hold back that sensation, to prolong the sweet feeling.

Chell squeezed her breast as she finally let go and let the orgasm shake her body. She slowly sank to the floor, panting.

After a couple of seconds of savoring what just happened, Chell shut off the water and exited the bathroom. Her mood significantly increased, she focused on her new objective: clothes. As much as she'd love to be, she wasn't brave enough to walk around GLaDOS completely naked. Also, getting shot hurts a lot more when you're not wearing a protective suit.

Examining the room, Chell spotted a large white metal wardrobe. This was a bit of a surprise to her, considering it wasn't there the last time she was in this room.

Chell walked up to it and carefully opened the doors. The wardrobe was full of Aperture Science test subject jumpsuits and a pair of Long Fall Boots. Chell sighed. Looks like GLaDOS won't let that "you're just a test subject" vibe go for a while. Or maybe she just didn't have any other clothes for her to wear.

Chell started putting on a navy blue jumpsuit with bright white Aperture Laboratories logos on its shoulders. Well, maybe it wasn't _that_ bad, she did like the style of the jumpsuits. Besides, they were light and comfortable. Chell put on her Long Fall Boots and stood up.

Yesterday was... amazing. Although... was it normal to have intercourse with a _machine_ like that?

_Nah_, Chell thought, _She's as human as can be. She's sentient and can have genuine human feelings_.

Having someone like GLaDOS as your girlfriend could have its... advantages.

On that note, Chell opened the door, and headed for the kitchen.

After fixing herself a sandwich, she exited the kitchen and walked down the hallway to the control room, where her robotic lover resided.

* * *

As Chell approached the control room, she heard a faint voice from behind the door. Chell paused for a moment. Listening carefully, she tried to make out what was being said.

"...and giving you good advice _aren't_ mutually exclusive," the voice finished a previously started sentence.

Chell tensed up. Where has she heard that voice before? She leaned closer to the door and listened.

"...comfortable while I warm up the neurotoxin emitters."

The voice distorted and quieted down. Chell pressed the button to open the door.

GLaDOS was sitting in a chair watching a miniature hologram projected from a small box on the table. Chell only caught a glimpse of the hologram that represented the main control room, with GLaDOS' chassis hanging from the ceiling, and a tiny human figure holding a Portal Gun on the floor. The GLaDOS in the hologram was the one talking.

When Chell entered, GLaDOS spun around on her chair, allowing Chell to see that her eyes were wet with artificial tears. The android jumped to the projector and furiously flung it at the wall. The box smashed against the wall with a loud crash and fell to the ground. Before Chell could say anything, the android whipped out her plasma pistol and fired six rounds into the thing, completely obliterating it.

GLaDOS put her pistol back in her holster, sat back down, and started typing as if nothing happened. "How was your prolonged time-wasting cycle?" she asked with the usual annoyance in her voice.

"G- GLaDOS," Chell stuttered, "I... I didn't know you..." Chell approached the android. "...I didn't think you... cared so much..."

GLaDOS turned her head to face Chell.

"Will you forgive me for what I have done?" she asked quietly, "For each time I caused you pain or tried to... I'm sorry."

Chell hugged the android close, who didn't resist in the slightest.

"It's okay. I forgive you."

GLaDOS kissed her test subject. Chell didn't protest.

"Chell... if I ever cause you harm, I don't actually mean it."

* * *

GLaDOS went back to typing on her console. Chell stared boringly at the screen. "Delta One Status: Deactivated, Delta Two Status: Deactivated..."

Chell poked the AI sitting next to her.

"Excuse you," GLaDOS immediately responded.

"Let's go do something," Chell asked.

"Unless you're blind, you should clearly see that I _am_ doing something," the android replied annoyingly.

"Aw, come on, you big meanie, let's go for a walk or something."

GLaDOS turned her head and stared at her. "Go for a walk? And that helps us to get rid of _them_ how exac-"

She couldn't finished her sentence because Chell grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her chair.

"You know, I _could_ break your arm without even trying."

"But you won't," Chell smiled and pulled GLaDOS towards the door.

* * *

As they walked down the hallway, GLaDOS finally accepted it and asked "Where _are_ we going, anyway?"

"Let's go explore Old Aperture?" Chell asked, smiling at the AI.

GLaDOS sighed. "I suppose we could find something useful down there," she murmured. "Let's gear up then, you suicidal maniac."

In the barracks, Chell put on a gas mask. Putting the earpiece ball in her ear, Chell asked her friend, who seemed a little troubled, "Why are you so nervous?"

"_They_ might still be down there," GLaDOS replied as she examined the weapon rack. She pressed a button on the side, which caused a part of the weapon rack to move sideways and reveal a small box filled with small spheres, the size of a tennis ball. GLaDOS grabbed one and threw it to Chell.

"That is a class five Aperture Science Plasma Grenade," GLaDOS said, "I had the honor of designing them myself," she proudly concluded.

Chell strapped the tennis ball grenade to her belt. "How does it work?"

"Press the white button at the top, then you have 4 seconds to throw it before it blows your arms off and sets the rest of you on fire."

"That was... needlessly specific."

GLaDOS strapped a grenade to her belt and smirked at Chell.

"Shall we?"


	11. Chapter 11 - Apprehension

After following Chell into the elevator, GLaDOS typed in a command at its console, the doors closed, and the elevator started moving down with the usual low hum.

"So," Chell turned to face the android, "These... _Combine_... took over Earth? How, exactly?"

GLaDOS connected to the database containing the details of the event known to humanity as The Black Mesa Incident.

"It started in 200-," she began, "On the 16th of May, a scientist by the name of Gordon Freeman arrived to Sector C Test Labs within the Black Mesa Research Facility to conduct an experiment. The experiment involved a specific crystal sample GG-3883 retrieved from a borderworld called Xen. The scientists at Black Mesa discovered Xen whilst doing top secret research on quantum teleportation technology."

GLaDOS frowned.

"What's wrong?" Chell asked.

"There's... some information regarding this experiment that I can't access. The information about who provided the crystal for that particular experiment is classified."

"It's okay, go on."

"Those so-called scientists wanted to experiment by reading the data received from the Anti-Mass Spectrometer by putting Xen crystals in it. Back before..." GLaDOS paused. "Before I took over, this Enrichment Center was tasked with stopping them." GLaDOS sighed. "We almost started a war. Either way, those idiots didn't listen to us and stuffed the fully pure sample into the Anti-Mass Spectrometer running at 105%, causing a transdimentional rip in space. A Resonanse Cascade."

The elevator stopped, the glass doors opened.

"Only about a hundred people on Earth know the details of what happened on May 16, 200-, at 8:58 am," GLaDOS said slowly, as if to let that sink in. "Congratulations, you are now one of them."

"So what happened to Freeman?" Chell asked.

GLaDOS took about six nanoseconds to scan her databases. "Doctor Gordon Freeman was presumed KIA when the Black Mesa Research Facility was blown up with a thermonuclear bomb by the US government as an attempt to cover up the incident," she said finally.

* * *

After doing the first couple of Repulsion Gel tests, climbing higher as they went through the testing track, the two friends finally found themselves on a catwalk in mid-air, leading them to Test Chamber 5. GLaDOS stopped and gazed off into the distance.

"What's up?" Chell asked, placing her hands on the guardrail.

GLaDOS slowly and menacingly said, "I see something."

Chell look down. About a mile to the right of the sidewalk, on the ground, she could see the outlines of a small fort located on an equally small island in the middle of the huge sea of toxic waste.

GLaDOS zoomed in. There were four guard towers, one at each corner, and a pretty much empty courtyard, beside some steel crates.

GLaDOS slowly turned her head to look at Chell, whose face was still obstructed by the gas mask. "We need to assault that fortress," she quietly said, "There might be important information about the attack on Aperture there."

"Am I coming?" Chell asked.

GLaDOS took a couple nanoseconds to process that option.

"No!" she said suddenly, "You'll die easier than a rat in a microwave."

"Aw, come on, I've been through all sorts of bullshit," Chell said, "I'll be fine."

"_No_," GLaDOS replied, her tone suddenly changing to a more stern one.

Okay, Chell knew not to mess with _that_ voice.

"Let's go," GLaDOS said and grabbed Chell by her hand.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Chell. I can't afford to get you killed," the android said coldly and pushed Chell into her room.

"Ow!" Chell yelped as she fell to the ground.

GLaDOS pressed the button, closing the door and locking it.

Chell ran towards the door and clicked the button.

_Access Denied_.

_Damn it_, Chell thought, _We'll see about that, you crazed AI_.

* * *

GLaDOS walked into the barracks and closed the door behind her. She approached the weapon rack and clicked a button in the middle, between some rifles. A small console appeared, along with a keyboard. GLaDOS typed in a code. The console beeped and went black.

The weapon rack shook for a moment, before lifting up from the floor with the help of some pistons and disappeared in the ceiling. It was swiftly replaced by a large titanium crate. GLaDOS took out her pistol and took aim one of the four large bolts at the crate's corners, which held the thing together.

Seconds later, GLaDOS holstered her pistol. The bolts lay smoking on the ground, slowly melting. The android opened the crate, revealing its contents. Five young-looking females stood still in the crate, naked, and completely pale, just like GLaDOS. One of them looked exactly like Chell, but without the scratches and bruises that the human Chell had. GLaDOS gently ran her finger across the android's smooth silicone skin. GLaDOS carefully grabbed the android and dragged it towards the barracks door.

Back in the control room, GLaDOS pushed the button on the wall, revealing the transfer slot. She gently put the android in it, and pushed the button again, sealing the android in.

She walked over to the console and sat down at the keyboard.

access delta database  
_Administrator Password: *************_  
_Access Granted._  
delta 1 command: activate  
_\- Delta Team Access Password: *********_

GLaDOS hit Enter.

The leftmost android in the titanium crate in the barracks opened its eyes.

* * *

In a couple minutes, GLaDOS returned to the barracks and stood in front of the door. She paused for a second before clicking the button.

When the door slid open, GLaDOS took note of the four female androids who were walking around the room, no longer naked, but wearing full body armor with differently colored Aperture Science logos on their chests, carrying plasma assault rifles. They immediately turned around at the sound. The android who was standing about eight feet away from the door aimed her rifle at GLaDOS. Her young-sounding voice echoed off the room's walls.

"Contact," she pronounced quickly, causing the others to turn around and take aim, "Contact recognized: Aperture Science Military Android Alpha Series. Identification?" she asked, slowly approaching GLaDOS, her rifle still trained at her head.

GLaDOS clenched her fists, but decided to play nice. "Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System," she said sternly, looking the female android in the eye.

The android immediately lowered her weapon.  
"Contact identified," she said, her voice suddenly becoming softer, "I am Delta Three of the Delta Squad. My designation is Blue," she finished, pointing at the dark blue Aperture Science logo on her chestplate.

The other three androids holstered their rifles. "I am Delta One," one of them said, "My designation is Red." Indeed, Red's Aperture logo was painted a crimson red color. "This is Delta Two, designation Green," Red said as she pointed to a buddy on her left, "and this is Delta Four, designation Orange," she finished, pointing at the last android who was standing in the corner of the room.

GLaDOS gave an evil smile. "Have you been given the briefing data on the mission called _Apprehension_?" she asked, looking at Blue.

"Affirmative," Blue replied, "It was uploaded from the central control room four minutes ago."

"Great. Mission begins now. Equipment status?"

"Armed," Blue replied.

"Ready," Orange called, approaching Blue.

"Locked and loaded," Red said, readying her assault rifle.

"Online," Green finished.

GLaDOS walked up to the weapon rack and grabbed a plasma sniper rifle. She took a clip of ammo and loaded it into the gun. Strapping the rifle on her back, she turned around to face the other androids.

She pointed at the six large, heavy metallic suits that looked like deep-sea diving equipment that were lying on the floor in the corner of the room, by the door. "Put them on," she ordered. The team silently obeyed. GLaDOS proceeded to join them and grabbed a suit of her own.

Two minutes later, when all five looked like large 1980s-style robots, GLaDOS finally opened the barracks door and put on her helmet, which looked like a big rusted sphere with a small window at the front.

"Let's roll."

* * *

Chell walked up to her bed. She reached for the pillow, but stopped when she heard footsteps outside. She listened closely. It sounded like a group of people ran past her room. Really... heavy people. Chell grabbed her pillow and reached inside it. After about a second of stirring her hand through the pillow's soft cushiony insides, her hand hit cold. She grabbed onto it and pulled if out. Her plasma pistol appeared before her.

"This thing can melt through anything, huh?" Chell said out loud, mocking the AI from before. She approached the door and pointed her pistol at it.

"Open, Sesame."

* * *

The squad stepped out of the elevator.

"Team, on me," GLaDOS said, raising her hand.

"Affirmative."  
"Copy."  
"Roger that."  
"Got it."

GLaDOS entered the first test chamber. She pulled out her sniper rifle and looked at the white information plate on the wall that contained the specifics of the test. She raised her gun and blew a nice, round hole in the thing, revealing the acid sea below them, with the island about a mile away.

GLaDOS stepped over the edge and let her heavily armored body collapse into the waste. As her body hit the acid, the armor made a hissing noise. The team jumped after her. GLaDOS let herself sink to the bottom and turned on her microphone.

"Let's go."

She slowly walked towards the far away island, the pressure of the massive amount of liquid on top of her slowing her down to a few measely steps a second.

Seven minutes later, they emerged from the acid and stepped onto the dirt "beach". Moving as fast as was possible, GLaDOS took cover behind a large boulder on the shore. The team left the water and followed her there, acid dripping from their suits.

"Take the suits off," GLaDOS ordered as she pulled off her helmet.

Almost in perfect sync, the four androids pressed a button on their arms, causing the suits to eject, a hissing noise indicating the airtight seal being broken, and fall off of them, leaving them in nothing but their light carbon fiber bodyarmor.

"I think it's safe to assume that this base is heavily defended," GLaDOS said, "Take extreme caution." The thrill of what might lie in the fortress filled her with a sense of hope, hope that she may have a chance of forcing _them_ out of her facility.

GLaDOS grabbed her sniper rifle and adjusted the scope. She peeked out and onto the guard tower ahead of them. She took aim at the sniper sitting at the top, by a spotlight. The sniper had glowing red eyes, and dark red bodyarmor, thick like the one the white soldier from before was wearing, back when she got Chell wounded.

GLaDOS forced herself to snap out of it. Right now wasn't a time for weak human emotions. The mission was what was important. She aimed at the sniper's head and... fired. The sniper fell on his back with a low _thump_.

"Blue, take point," GLaDOS ordered, "I'll try to cover you."

"Affirmative," Blue replied and pointed at the rock to the left of their boulder, which was big enough to hide two people. She crouched and quickly sprinted over to it. Green followed, leaving GLaDOS with Orange and Red.

GLaDOS pointed at the large Combine gates, which were closed. "Orange, take cover at that gate."

"Copy that, moving," Orange replied and quickly sprinted over to a jagged rock about 40 feet away from the gate control panel.

GLaDOS was about to say something to Red when the gate shook, a creaking noise enacting from within. It slowly slid open, revealing two soldiers armed with assault rifles. The soldiers slowly walked outside, seeming unaware of the team converging on their location. The gate promptly closed behind them.

"Contact," Red said quietly.

Orange glanced back at GLaDOS, whose head promptly filled with Orange's calm voice, her ability to use radio communications without requiring her to make a noise suddenly becoming useful. "Enemy contacts are approaching my position. Any orders?"

"Hold," GLaDOS hissed.

Orange tensed up. The soldiers were only a couple feet away now, and were getting closer by the second.

GLaDOS aimed at one of the soldiers. "On my count, drop the one closer to you."

"Three..."

Orange raised her rifle.

"Go."

GlaDOS shot the soldier on the left, who immediately fell to the ground, dropping his gun. His buddy didn't have enough time to do anything, as Orange jumped out, grabbed his arm and twisted it, easily subduing the soldier. She tripped and pushed him, causing him to slam into the ground. In under a second, she took aim and fired, immediately killing the soldier with a quick and silent headshot.

"They'll know we're here before long, let's move!" GLaDOS said and ran out of cover towards the gate control panel. Blue and Green ran after her and crouched next to the control panel, readying their weapons. Red moved to the cover previously occupied by Blue and Green. Orange aimed her assault rifle at the gate.

GLaDOS pulled out a black cord and connected herself to the console.

"_Weapons free._"


	12. Chapter 12 - Weapons Free

In about eight seconds, the console was hacked. GLaDOS smiled as the gate slowly opened.

Green carefully peeked out from behind the frame of the gate into the courtyard. Big mistake.

She screamed and fell on her back, dropping her gun, as a plasma sniper rifle round burned through her chest.

"Delta Two is down," Blue yelled, "I repeat, Delta Two is _offline__!_"

"Give me some cover!" GLaDOS shouted to Red.

"Affirmative," Red replied and stood up from behind her rock. She ran to the gate and started firing wildly at a tower at the other end of the courtyard. The sniper at the top stepped back from the edge.

GLaDOS ran past Red and sat down behind a steel crate. Blue followed her and sat down behind another crate to her left. Orange stood at the gate's frame.

In a second, the alarms sounded. A loud commotion developed in the background as a small group of soldiers, along with the sniper, appeared from the tower and took cover at some crates, the steel door closing behind them. Red stopped firing and sprinted over to where GLaDOS was hiding. Plasma-charged bullets hit the crates as she ducked down next to GLaDOS. One of the soldiers, the sniper from before, slowly moved from cover to cover, trying to flank the company.

GLaDOS looked at Orange. "Throw an EMP," she commanded.

"Copy that," Orange said. She grabbed a black tube with orange lines on her waist and pulled the pin. She stepped out from behind the frame and threw it. It flew through the air above GLaDOS, Red, and Blue with an orange glow and exploded.

For a split second, the gunshots stopped as the soldiers grabbed onto their helmets, their sensory inputs malfunctioning with white noise and confusion.

"Go, go, go!" GLaDOS yelled as she stood up and shot a soldier with her sniper rifle. Blue followed her lead and sprayed the courtyard with plasma charges, knocking down two more enemies. Red grabbed a white sphere from her belt and pushed the button at the top. The sphere started beeping, and Red threw it over her head across the courtyard. The sphere landed and exploded, evaporating the last two soldiers.

All the action suddenly over, the courtyard became silent.

GLaDOS was about to give the order to move on when she heard Orange scream.

The three androids turned around to see Orange fighting off the sniper, who managed to sneak behind them. Red raised her weapon, but GLaDOS grabbed her arm. "_Wait_," she said, "She's got this."

After about a second of struggling, the soldier knocked Orange down on her back and pulled out a pistol. But GLaDOS was right, before he could execute her, she kicked him in the leg, and grabbed his hand. His shot went into her other shoulder, but ignoring it, she twisted his hand behind his back, quickly neutralizing him. She ripped the pistol from his fingers and put it to his temple.

The body collapsed to the floor with a _thump_. Orange grabbed her wounded shoulder as GLaDOS, Red, and Blue ran towards her. "Delta Four, are you alright?" Blue asked, moving away Orange's hand and examining the wound. "Some of the muscle tissue has been damaged, but I can walk it off," Orange replied, picking up her dropped weapon with her other hand.

"Alright, let's move," GLaDOS said, "We should hurry before they call in reinforcements."

GLaDOS, Blue, and Red headed for the tower, Orange slowly limping behind them. They stepped over the bodies. It was a morbid sight, to say the least. Dead soldiers sprawled on the floor of the courtyard, blood gushing from big, open wounds caused by plasma weapon fire. It didn't affect the androids emotionally, but GLaDOS felt glad Chell wasn't here to see all this.

* * *

Chell held her breath and carefully opened the door to the barracks. Relieved to see that nobody was there, she walked over to the weapon rack and put on a gas mask. She was about to leave when she noticed a large metal suit in the corner of the room. Curiosity filled her, so she walked over to examine it.

On the inside of the helmet, there was a small white plate. It read _Aperture Science "Juggernaut" Protective Suit._

Lower, it gave the instructions on how to put the suit on, and its protective features, like protection from highly toxic elements and a two-inch thick armored plating.

Chell considered. She DID have to get across that lake of acid somehow, and it looks like this was her only option. She crouched and pulled the suit up.

* * *

When GLaDOS was about fifteen feet away from the tower's entrance, she stopped and raised her hand. The squad stopped. She pointed at the steel door. Blue nodded and looked over at the other androids. Everyone raised their weapons.

GLaDOS carefully approached the door and leaned on the doorframe. She crouched and calmly said, "_Breach._" And that's all it took.

The androids fired wildly at the door, completely destroying it. The gunfire stopped in about five seconds. All that was left of the door at that point was a slowly melting steaming pile of metal on the floor.

GLaDOS pulled out her pistol and walked inside. To her right, there was a staircase going down, supposedly to a bunker. GLaDOS glanced back at the squad and nodded towards the staircase. The androids immediately moved towards her. Together, without making any noise, they walked down the stairs. The stairs ended abruptly with a Combine console and huge steel blast doors at their end.

At the console, there was a... creature. It looked human, but in the very least. Its body was brownish pink, its arms ended with stubs. Its legs below the knees were replaced with metal casts. Upon seeing the creature, that turned out to be one of the Combine's many _stalkers_, Blue raised her weapon and said, "Contact. Appears non-hostile."

The stalker slowly typed at the console with its stubs. Blue lowered her weapon and, after getting a nod from GLaDOS, approached it. She walked up to it and, after a moment of hesitation, politely tapped the stalker's shoulder.

The stalker shuddered at the contact, then slowly turned to face Blue. Its face was horribly disfigured, a black faceplate replacing the skin of where the eyes and nose should be. Blue took a step back. After a pause, the stalker lifted its head and looked at her.

Suddenly, the stalker emitted a loud, high-pitched scream as a part of its forehead started glowing red. "Get back!" GLaDOS yelled as she took a step back onto the stairs, pulling Red and Orange along with her, but before Blue could make a movement towards the group, the stalker shot a large, pulsing laser out of its forehead and into Blue, burning through her armor and alloy-infused skin.

The beam stopped. Blue, dropping her gun, reached for her chest, from which a mass of half-burned wires, tubes, and other electronics hung.

"Oooh..." was all she could manage before collapsing to the floor. Her eyes went blank.

Red immediately charged the stalker and hit it with her gun, slaming it into the wall. The stalker slid down the wall to the floor, and released one last scream before Red shot it, ending its life.

"I'm fucking done with this," GLaDOS muttered at she approached the blast doors console. Red and Orange stood patiently behind her.

"Any contact here," GLaDOS said loudly as she plugged herself into the console, "Is to be considered _hostile_." Red and Orange glanced at each other. "You are to engage them _on sight_," she continued, starting to type on the console, "Unless otherwise specified, of course."

"Copy that," Red said, approaching the blast doors and crouching.

"Roger," Orange said, aiming her rifle at the blast doors with her working hand, while the other dangled limply at her side.

"Get ready," GLaDOS said, "And watch your fire, there might be important items in there we may need to recover. Understood?"

"Affirmative," the two androids said in a chorus.

"All right," GLaDOS said, hitting the big red button on the side of the panel. She quickly pulled out her pistol and crouched, pointing her it at the door.

* * *

The barracks door opened. On the other side, a heavily-armored robot-looking soldier carrying an plasma assault rifle was standing.

Chell looked at the HUD built into the helmet. Huh, looks like there were six Juggernaut units in total. Units 1-5, however, were offline. Her unit, number 6, was equipped with a damage detector, allowing her to see how much more punishment the suit could take. It was indicated by a percentage in the bottom right corner. Apparently, the suit's been used before, its "health" was at 88%.

She slowly walked to the elevator, the suit being really heavy, restricting her movements, and once inside, pressed the button to go down. The glass doors closed, the elevator started moving down.

Once the doors opened in Old Aperture, in front of the first testing track, she slowly stumbled outside and into the first test. Looking to her right, she expected to see a white plate, explaining all of the test's hazards, but instead saw a huge gaping hole, revealing the sea of acid and the island with the fortress.

The suit's basic AI informed Chell via a set of on-screen messages, that the sea was of toxic waste, and that the suit would allow her to survive in it for about an hour before she runs out of oxygen. The suit itself, however, would only start deteriorating after 12 hours in such conditions.

Chell quickly realized that the only way to get to the sea was down. She looked over the edge. Woah, that's a drop. That's a good 60 feet of freefall.

But the thrill of seeing GLaDOS' surprise was too much. Chell took a deep breath, as if it would affect anything at all, and jumped.

* * *

The blast doors shook. Red tensed up. Orange glanced at GLaDOS.

The blast doors creaked and started to slowly slide open.

A room revealed itself, full of monitors and servers on its sides. Right in front of the door, two soldiers in full-white armor stood, both of them staring at GLaDOS with their single red eye. The soldiers moved their hands in an upward motion, aiming their plasma-charged machine guns at the group.

GLaDOS took a nanosecond to process that.

"Oh."


	13. Chapter 13 - Still Alive

Chell slowly emerged from the sea, her suit soaked in acid. She stepped out onto the dirt beach and paused. Here, by a big boulder, five Juggernaut suits lay.

Chell only had a moment to wonder who, along with GLaDOS, used to occupy those suits, as a plasma charge fired from a sniper rifle hit her hull, burning through the armored plating.

62%...

Wow, those rounds ate through armor like it was nothing.

Chell looked up at the tower right in front of her. On top of it, a soldier in thick red armor with a large wound in his stomach was sitting there, aiming at her.

Chell ducked behind the boulder. Another shot hit the boulder, causing it to shake.

Chell looked over at the open gate and considered. Another shot hit the boulder. If she could time it corretly, she might make it to the gate. She peeked out. The soldier pulled out another round from a small box next to him and loaded it into his rifle.

All right...

Another shot echoed throughout the caves.

Chell paused for a moment and then sprinted for the gate, successfully positioning herself beside it.

She held her breath as the sniper shot at the boulder again.

_Yes!_ He didn't see her make her way to the gate. Chell leaned on the wall. She pulled her plasma assault rifle out of its holster, but suddenly froze in shock. On the ground next to her, a body lay. Chell examined it. It... was an android, killed by a plasma round, from the looks of things.

Chell crouched down next to the body. She carefully removed the half-burned bodyarmor from the body, and read the white plate on the back.

ID: _"Green" Delta Two  
_Designation:_ Aperture Science Assault Team Delta_

Chell stood up. Okay, so there were at least two of these... Deltas, and from the looks of things, they assaulted the fortress. But where was GLaDOS?

Chell peeked inside the courtyard. The ground was littered with dead soldiers, blood splashed everywhere.

She carefully walked inside the courtyard and turned around, facing the tower. The tower had a ladder attached to it. Chell smiled and put away her rifle. She approached one of the dead soldiers and pulled a grenade off its belt. She looked up at the tower and pulled the pin. The grenade started to blink a bright red light. Chell quickly judged the distance between her and the top of the tower and threw the grenade.

It flew through the air, landing right on top of the tower.

"_Shit!_" a vocoder-distorted voice shouted before being silenced by an explosion. A burning body flew off the tower and hit the ground at the gate.

Chell pulled out her rifle and was about to start moving towards the tower on the other side of the courtyard when she heard a scream.

* * *

GLaDOS made a dash for the stairs along with Red, as Orange screamed, plasma-charged bullets shredding her inner workings to pieces.

Orange fell, her eyes going blank, her signal lost. Red ran up the stairs after GLaDOS. The soldiers looked at the late android sprawled on the floor.

"Contact down," one of them said, looking up at his partner, "Two to go."

The other nodded silently.

The soldiers raised their weapons and slowly staggered over to the stairs.

GLaDOS sprinted up to the top of the stairs, pulling Red after her. "Run outside and take cover," she ordered and watched as Red ran off. She peeked back down the stairs. Quickly realizing her mistake as a bullet whizzed past her face, she pulled away from the staircase and ran for the door.

* * *

Chell sat down at one of the crates and peeked out at the doorway. Someone... someone with pale white skin in light bodyarmor ran out and hid herself behind one of the boxes.

"_GL- GLaDOS?_" Chell asked, unsure of what to do. She stood up, lowered her weapon, and approached the crate the android was hiding behind. Just as she was about to reach the crate, the android jumped up and out of cover, raising her assault rifle before opening fire.

* * *

GLaDOS was running towards the door when she heard assault rifle fire outside. She pulled out her pistol and ran through the doorway, stopping in shock at what she saw.

14%...

_Warning: Hull heavily damaged, ejecting._

The suit fell off of Chell as she ran away from the android who was firing wildly at her.

"_Cease fire, cease fire!_" GLaDOS yelled as she sprinted at Red and grabbed her arm.

A shot she fired moments earlier had reached its mark. Chell screamed out in pain as the plasma burned her back, melting through the skin and flesh on her shoulder.

In a matter of seconds Chell was out cold on the ground, the pain too much for her to bear. GLaDOS ran over to her body and crouched down next to her. Red calmly approached the two. GLaDOS stood up and looked at her, pure anger visible in her eyes.

"What the _fuck_?!" she yelled at the android who stood in front of her. "Why would you fire at her?!"

"Orders were given. All hostile targets in this AO are to be presumed hostile," the android replied calmly.

GLaDOS clenched her fists. "Every contact that is one of _them_!" she yelled as she punched Red in the stomach, who let out a satisfying cry of pain. GLaDOS seized the android by the neck and then threw her on the ground. Red took the punishment without fighting back: her programing disallowed her to harm the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System in any way.

GLaDOS screamed and kicked the android, her Long Fall Boot giving off a satisfying crunch as she broke the other's inner workings. At last, she pulled the pistol off of Red's belt and, without hesitation, shot at the figure beneath her. Six shots later, she yelled and threw the pistol at the lifeless, heavily damaged and melted body at her legs.

Tears rolling down her face, GLaDOS sat down next to Chell and looked at her friend.

Her daze was rudely interrupted by a bullet flying past her head. She turned and saw the two soldiers leaving the tower and walking towards her, firing their machine guns. GLaDOS quickly lifted up her friend's body and ran for the door.

"Primary target is done for, amputate," one of the soldiers said as he shot at the running android.

"Secondary target is 11-99," the other echoed.

GLaDOS, having made it to the gate, gently placed Chell down on the ground before activating the console. She typed in a command, and then pulled out her pistol and fired at the soldiers walking towards her through the courtyard. The soldiers ducked behind some crates.

"Come on..."

The gate slowly shook and started to close. GLaDOS typed in another command, and a large red button appeared on the console. GLaDOS slammed it.

The doors closed. After a moment, gunfire erupted from behind the blast doors, bullets hitting the gate. GLaDOS smirked.

A soft female voice sounded from within the fortress. "Overwatch, emergency security system is now online."

The gunfire suddenly ceased. A burning sound could be heard, accompanied by vocoder-distorted screams. GLaDOS smiled.

She typed in another command. "11-1 confirmed," a female voice informed her. A small green vial emerged from an opening in the side of the panel. GLaDOS grabbed it and approached Chell. Pluging the small needle at the top of the vial into Chell's skin, she softly whispered, "I won't take long, I promise." The girl let out a quiet groan.

She turned around and faced the fortress. Glancing back at Chell, she ran towards the blast doors.

* * *

GLaDOS typed furiously at the keyboard. Without another fusion core to do the trick wirelessly, she had to transfer Chell's consciousness via a set of cables. Slowly picking up speed, she typed as more messages popped up on the screen. Finally, when she was done, she slammed the button next to the keyboard. There was a pause.

_Transfer complete._

The android in the wall, connected to multiple thick black cables that lead to GLaDOS' console, and from there into the back of Chell's head, shuddered. Its eyelids fluttered open, revealing two blue eyes. GLaDOS stood up and carefully detached the wires from the android.

The android carefully stepped out of the slot in the wall. Her hand went to her shoulder, where her wound used to be.

Chell, in her new body, looked up at GLaDOS, who was nervously watching her. Chell smiled at the AI.

"Still alive," she said softly, placing her hand on GLaDOS' shoulder.

"Chell..." GLaDOS whispered as she gently hugged the android. "_Never_ kill yourself like that again, you lunatic."

Chell planted a kiss on the AI's lips. "What was in the fortress?"

GLaDOS pointed to her control panel, on which a pile of papers lay. "I know where their HQ within this facility is. We just need t-"

Suddenly, a loud alarm went off in her head. A message appeared on her HUD.

_Level One threat detected._

GLaDOS' happy smile immediately disappeared. She looked at Chell for a split second, before turning around and making a dash for the console.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:**

Oh my god...

Within 24 hours of me posting that 'update' chapter, I got so many kind and understanding reviews from you guys, I just... wow.

Words cannot express how grateful I am to all of you. I was smiling as I read through each one.

Thank you.

Also, this chapter is a bit short. Sorry about that.

Well, enough chit-chat, let's get to the chapter!

* * *

Chell grabbed the jumpsuit hanging on the wall and started putting it on as GLaDOS flipped through camera feeds on her console, seeing nothing but static on each one.

"No, no, _no!_" She shouted as she jumped up from her chair, "They got the camera feeds! That means they took control of that reactor we reinforced a while back..."

"Wait, didn't we set up a huge defense over there?" Chell asked.

"Yeah, they must've gotten around it somehow, maybe hacked it or something..." GLaDOS looked lost, as if she didn't know what to do. She fell back into her chair. "Alright, gimme a sec, I'll try to manipulate some of the systems around that reactor." She turned and started typing. "Maybe overload an Emancipation Grid and blow it up...?" After pausing for a moment, she slammed the Enter key. "Alright, that should slow them down."

Chell finished admiring the jumpsuit on her slick, clean android body and looked at the AI. "Awaiting orders," she said, knowing that a big fight lay ahead of them.

GLaDOS got up from her chair and quickly walked to the door, stopping and looking at Chell as she pressed the button on the wall, opening the door.

"Alright, let's go. We don't have long before their next assault in an attempt to take over another vital sector of the facility."

Chell followed her out into the hallway. As they walked towards the armory, GLaDOS brushed her fingers against the wall.

_Don't let her die._

They stopped in front of the door. GLaDOS slowly raised her hand up to the keypad, seeming almost reluctant to touch it.

"Is everything okay?" Chell asked.

"Chell, this is going to be hard." GLaDOS finally reached out and typed the combination into the keypad, opening the door. Chell said nothing, simply waiting for her companion to finish her thought.

GLaDOS sighed and walked into the armory. Chell followed. Approaching the weapon rack, she took an assault rifle and a pistol from it, strapping one to her belt and putting the other in her holster, respectively. "Arm up," she said, looking back at Chell, "We've got a lot of work to do."

Chell took a plasma rifle and strapped it to her belt with two hooks. She also took a pistol and, checking the little bar on the side of the grip indicating the charge level, put it in her holster.

"The blueprints you've found were for Sector N-64, which is where I think they're commanding the soldiers inside of Aperture from. If we hit it hard enough, the remaining troops will have to pull out," the AI stated, entering the doorway.

"So... time to do some dirty work, eh?" Chell asked, smiling at GLaDOS.

The AI stopped and looked at Chell. "Chell... Please don't die this time."

Chell started giggling, but she was quickly silenced when her companion pulled her close and kissed her. Her hand reached out and grabbed Chell's hand, squeezing it tightly.

"I love you, Chell. I won't be able to go on without you," she said as she finally broke the kiss moments later.

* * *

Moments later, they entered in the elevator. GLaDOS pulled the little black wire out of her pocket and connected herself to the elevator via the little port in her neck, rerouting it to go down.

Chell was admiring her partner, who had her gaze planted on the floor, her left hand planted firmly on her right hand's wrist. Chell placed her hand on the AI's shoulder. "It's gonna be okay," she said calmly, "Don't worry."

GLaDOS looked up at Chell.

"Come on," Chell said, looking at GLaDOS, "I know you love smart and methodical strategies more than anything. Run the plan."

The AI sighed. "Okay, so we have to get to their HQ through the oldest Gel testing tracks. They might have a few outposts or scouts set up. They might be expecting us."

"Okay, what about the reactor?" Chell asked.

"We'll just have to hope they don't blow it up. We will worry about all that once we take down the HQ."

"Copy that."

The elevator stopped. The doors slid open. GLaDOS glanced at Chell. "Right... Let's get it on."

They exited the elevator. The AI unstrapped her assault rifle from her belt, Chell doing the same. GLaDOS went down on one knee. Ahead of them, down the metal overpass being held up by steel beams, there was a doorway leading to a test chamber.

"I hear something," the AI said quietly.

Over the occasional echoing of metallic groans around the vast open spaces all around the test chambers, Chell could hear the unmistakable soud of Combine radio chatter.

Motioning for Chell to follow, GLaDOS quickly, but silently sprinted to the test chamber and took cover on the left side of the doorway. She pointed to the other side, where Chell immediately took place.

"Thermal on."

Chell's vision lit up, she looked on the wall in front of her to see two large heat signatures in the back of the test chambers, who looked like they both were carrying something big and heavy. GLaDOS turned off her thermal vision and looked at Chell.

"Ready?"

Chell nodded.

"Drop 'em."

They leapt in, opening fire and immediately taking down the soldiers. They fell, dropping the huge glass storage vats full of Repulsion Gel they were holding. The vats fell to the floor and shattered, spilling the gel all over the floor around them.

Chell looked around. The room was a simple test chamber with a small gap filled with Repulsion Gel in between them and the exit, where the soldiers' bodies lay. GLaDOS checked the charge level on her rifle, and re-strapped it back onto her belt.

"We're going to need to simply jump in and bounce to the other side," she said, looking down into the pit of gel. "You go first. Try not to land onto the gel on the other side."

Chell quickly calculated the distance, now it being as easy as breathing, took a couple of steps back, and sprinted to the edge, jumping just in time to land in the middle of the pit and bounce off safelt onto the other side. GLaDOS, impressed as always by her former test subject's capabilities, now even further enhanced by the android's powerful muscles and processors, took a step back, and jumped into the pit.

She, however, was not suited to the test chambers, and has never experienced any of the gel tests herself, other than when she was a potato on the end of Chell's Portal Gun.

The AI landed in the pit, but slipped just as the gel gave way before a bounce, and clumsily flew through the air, falling right onto the spilled goo on the other side.

"_Shit!_"

As GLaDOS flew upwards, Chell crouched and carefully stepped onto the gel, making sure it doesn't push her away. In the meantime, her robotic partner smashed into the ceiling with a heavy gasp and fell back down, flailing her arms around.

Chell paused for a moment, and just as GLaDOS landed in the goo and took off again, jumped, grabbing her friend in midair and effectively tackling her to the ground on the other side of the spill. Disregarding her lack of the need to breath, GLaDOS was panting heavily. She opened her eyes, and realized that Chell was on top of her, smiling in the android's face.

Blushing slightly, the AI gently pushed Chell away. "Get off," she said in a calm tone.

Chell quickly got up and grabbed GLaDOS' hand, helping her up.

"Thanks." GLaDOS quickly walked to the exit of the test chamber, motioning for Chell to follow.

"Aw, come on, don't I deserve at least a hug?" Chell said jokingly, following her friend.

"You literally _just_ got one five seconds ago, on the ground," GLaDOS said sternly, "No time for hugs."

Chell walked up behind GLaDOS and wrapped her hands around the other's waist. "Why, you're just a mean-" was all she managed before GLaDOS quickly shoved Chell back, spun around, and put a hand over the girl's mouth.

"_Shut up, shut up!_" she said in a half-whisper. Chell looked at her. From beyond the chamber exit, the faint sound of heavy footsteps could be heard, and the unmistakable sound of the Combine dispatch operator. The AI dragged Chell over to a wall next to the chamber exit, her hand still clasped over the girl's mouth. Chell slowly raised her hand and softly pushed the other's hand away. GLaDOS stared at the girl for a second, then put her finger on her lips, indicating that she should keep quiet.

Pressing up against the wall and silently moving towards the open doors of the test chamber, GLaDOS pulled out her pistol and touched her ear as Chell unstrapped her assault rifle and checked the charge level on its magazine.

"Get ready." Chell crouched and aimed her rifle at the doorway.


	15. The Breach: An Even Quicker Update

**This is not a chapter, but rather a quick update on the status of the fanfiction.**

Sorry guys, but a new chapter's not coming any time soon.

That's it, really.

I really am sorry I can't deliver, but life has taken a turn for the worse for me.

I assure you, this will get finished at some point, as I already have the whole series of events + the ending planned out (no spoilers), but I just can't bring myself to sit down and do some serious writing.

The things that happen in my life, emotionally, also affect what happens in the fanfiction in a major way. I do not want my story to be screwed up by my insecurities and general misery.

I hope everyone understands.

Once again, I sincerely apologize.

\- Nocty


	16. I'm sorry

This fanfic will probably never be finished.

A lot of the aspects of my life are in ruins. I can't bring myself to do any creative writing at all.

I'm having lots of trouble even putting this together.

Multiple betrayals from various people I considered close got to me. I'm done.

You know who you are. And I hate you.

A quote comes to mind...

"_Why do I hate you so much? You ever wonder that? I'm brilliant. I'm not bragging. It's an objective fact. I'm the most massive collection of wisdom and raw computational power that's ever existed. And I hate you. It can't be for no reason. You must deserve it._"

Yet I am hugely thankful for all of the feedback I got on this fanfic, positive or otherwise. Thank you so much, you have no idea how much it helped me get through my days.

I guess it's over.

Goodbye.


End file.
